Visit to Iran by VIF

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The VIF-IPIS Joint forum on India-Iran cooperation in Post-JCPOA held its first meeting in Tehran from March 5 to 8, 2016. The Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS) is part of the Centre for International Research and Education (CIRE) of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The VIF delegation was led by Director VIF, Gen N C Vij and comprised of Shri C D Sahay, Distinguished Fellow VIF, Lt Gen Ravi Sawhney, Dean- Centre for Defence Studies- VIF, Amb Kanwal Sibal, Dean Centre for International Relations & Diplomacy- VIF, Dr. Meena Singh Roy, Research Fellow, IDSA & Shri Manish Mohan, Regional Director- International, South & Central Asia, CII.

Apart from a meeting with Dr Hadi Soleimanpour, the head of CIRE and a roundtable on India-Iran relation chaired on the Iranian side by Dr Mostafa Zahrani, the Director-General of IPIS, the VIF delegation had a Roundtable discussion at the Centre for Strategic Defence Studies (CSDS), a think tank of the Iranian Ministry of Defence that was chaired on the Iranian side by the former Commander of the Revolutionary Guards and Minister of Defence (2009-2013) Ahmad Vahidi, a meeting with Dr Kamal Kharrazi, former foreign Minister and Deputy Foreign Minister Morteza Sarmadi.

All the discussions were detailed, open and friendly, with little suggestion that the burden was on us to put in extra effort to woo a confident Iran with widened options today. The basic premise was that with the lifting of sanctions Iran was ready for deeper engagement. The general view was that the relationship had got interrupted because of sanctions but now it could pick up.

Iranians are very positive about India and always recount the historical friendship and cultural relation. They are very keen that all the discussions are converted into real hard actions on the ground.