Tehran: Highly-tilted trade relations in favour of Iran, supply of oil and gas and other key strategic bilateral and international issues, including Syria, are expected to dominate the meetings of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad here.
Though there are no "irritants" in particular between India and Iran, Singh will be raising the issue of trade imbalance in favour of Tehran and seeking more access for Indian goods, including wheat and tea.
The back-to-back meetings with Iranian leaders assume significance in view of the US pushing India and other countries to curtail their engagement with Iran to press Tehran on its controversial nuclear programme.
Oil supply, one of the major components of bilateral ties, will also be discussed in the backdrop of the sanctions imposed by the US. India has already made it clear that it will continue to be one of the biggest oil buyers from the sanctions-hit country, notwithstanding US' reservation on the issue.
"We are still the biggest buyers of oil. We will continue doing so. Companies pick and choose," government sources said while noting that the companies had trouble with insurance which was being resolved.
Comments
0 comment