India Foundation organised an interaction with H.E. Dr Majid TakhtRavanchi, Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs, Islamic Republic of Iran at the India Foundation office on Janurary 03, 2025. Dr Ravanchi was accompanied by H.E. Dr Dr.IrajElahi, Ambassador of Iran to India, along with other senior officials from the Iranian Embassy. Captain Alok Bansal, Director, India Foundation welcomed the Iranian delegation. The program was attended by selected scholars, retired diplomats and fellows from India Foundation.
Dr Ravanchi praised the India Foundation forhaving helped inenhancingthe cooperation with Iran and increasing people to people ties between two countries.He mentioned that their exists an age old connection between India and Iran and the civilization and cultural bonds brings both of them together. He pointed out that both countries have archaeological similarities too and even before 7th century BC,the commercial connections had existed between Persia and India. He also thanked the Government of India for including Farsi (Persian) as one of the nine classical languages of India in its New Education Policy, highlighting the enduring cultural, literary, and linguistic connections between Iran and India. He emphasised that India can access Afghanistan, Russia and Central Asia via Iran. Expressing his optimism about India’s role in the management of Chabahar port in Iran, he mention that this port would be connected to INSTC (International North South Transit Corridor) in the future. He emphasised that the trilateral conference on INSTC between think tanks from India, Iran and Russia, that was held last year in Moscow (in which a delegation of India Foundation had also participated) had been very productive in terms of its outcomes and looked forward to hosting and welcoming the delegates forthe next round of conference in Iran this year.
He expressed his concerns about the fall of Assad regime in Syria and the taking over of power by the HTS and mentioned that this could lead to rise of terrorism originating from Syria like what happened some years back. He informed that at present the Iranian Embassy in Syria is closed but they wanted it to open as soon as possible because there were many holy shrines in Syria that are under threat due to the regime change. Apart from this, they are also worried about the safety of Shias and several Iranians that are still present in Syria, apart from the huge investments that many Iranian private firms have made in Syria. He pointed out that although it is not the job of one country to run another country, yet they are ready to assist the Syrian regime,if needed. Criticising the Western media, he mentioned that Iranian army, despite some setbacks, still remains a formidable force and that it is ready to defend its country from any outside aggression. He emphasised on greater cooperation between India and Iran and that this relationship has huge potential for growth and benefit of the people of both countries.Apart from this, various issues like trade, tourism, greater people to people interaction and more economic engagements and enhancing the role of Indian private sector in Iran were discussed.
