January 26, 2003	Sunday	Ziqa’ad 22,1423

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NEW DELHI, Jan 25: India and Iran on Saturday signed seven agreements, including a declaration slamming “double standards”, in the global campaign against terrorism.

Both sides also repeated their common position that the crisis “relating to Iraq should be resolved peacefully under the auspices of the United Nations”.

Iranian President Mohammed Khatami also told a joint press conference with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee that Tehran was opposed to “hegemony and unilateralism”, in another apparent swipe at US policy towards its neighbour, Baghdad.

The agreements were inked by officials accompanying Khatami, who is on a four-day official visit to India, after a day of talks between the Iranian leader and Indian officials.

According to the text of the Delhi Declaration, “all aspects of bilateral cooperation” are included in the agreements, ranging from economic exchanges to science and technology, infotech, educational training, the reconstruction of Afghanistan and terrorism.

Specific agreements signed also related to labour and social affairs, cultural exchange and urban water management.

On the issue of terrorism, the declaration said that states “which aid, abet and directly support terrorism should be condemned”.

“India and Iran agree that the combat against international terrorism should not be based upon double standards,” it said.

India has repeatedly accused the United States of double standards in dealing with Pakistan.

On Saturday, Vajpayee said the threat to global and regional security from terrorism was discussed with Khatami.

“We agreed to widen our cooperation against terrorism in bilateral and multilateral fora. We will work to strengthen the international legal regime against terrorism,” he said.

Both countries also resolved to work for an early finalization of a “comprehensive convention against international terrorism” at the United Nations, a statement said.

The Delhi Declaration also states that India and Iran “agreed to explore opportunities for cooperation in defence ... including training and exchange of visits”.

This cooperation was “not aimed at any third country”, it stated.

Vajpayee said India and Iran had agreed that a “mutually acceptable and stable arrangement for the transportation of gas” needed to be found.

“Iran has gas and we want it,” Vajpayee said.

“But there are some impediments in the middle which we are trying to remove. We are working towards a mutually satisfactory agreement which will be long lasting,” he added without elaborating.

Discussions on the construction of a 3.5-billion-dollar gas pipeline for the transport of gas from Iran to India began in 1994, but a breakthrough has been elusive due to tensions between Pakistan and India, as well as the cost of the project.

—AFP