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India to open bank in Iran for trade exchanges: Iranian FM

Xinhua, December 3, 2016 Adjust font size:

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Saturday that India's United Commercial (UCO) Bank will open a branch in Iran's capital Tehran in the near future to facilitate financial and trade exchanges, semi-official Fars news agency reported.

"Officials of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) recently told me in a letter that a branch of India's UCO Bank will be inaugurated in Tehran before the end of the current year," Zarif made the remarks in New Delhi addressing a joint trade meeting between Iran and India.

Iran considers India as an important trade partner, Zarif said, adding that Tehran seeks to expand its friendly relations with New Delhi.

Relations between the two countries are developing in fields of energy, trade and transportation, while "the two countries seek to broaden cooperation in other fields as well," he added.

In May, Iran, India and Afghanistan signed a trilateral deal in Tehran to boost regional trade and economic cooperation by developing Iran's Chabahar port, which would serve as a transit route connecting the three countries.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that "The agreement to develop Chabahar port, for which India will provide 500 million U.S. dollars, is a key milestone."

Chabahar is located in the Gulf of Oman on the border with Pakistan. India's move to develop Chabahar port, if implemented, would enable New Delhi to dodge Pakistan and establish a strategic connectivity to Afghanistan as well as Central Asia. Endit