With Afghanistan in focus, India's Foreign Minister Dr S Jaishankar to land in Iran today

India's External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar will visit Iran today and meet the country’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif. The main focus of the meeting will be the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, where the Taliban continueto make significant gains.

Jaishankar is expected to reach the country at around 3 pm (IST). He will makea stopover in Iran's capital Tehran while going to Moscow. He is going to Russia for the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC).

Jaishankar had made a similar stopover in Iran in September of 2020 while on his Moscow visit.

Both countries have been working on the Chabahar port project which has been the key pillar of connectivity between, especially Afghanistan.

Earlier this year, India supplied cranes for the post. India is involved with the development of phase-I of the Shahid Beheshti port in Chabahar.

In December 2018, an Indian company, India Ports Global Limited (IPGL) took over the port operations, and as of December 2020, the port has handled 1.75 million tonnes of bulk cargo and more than 13000 TEUs of container cargo.

India used theportto send 75,000 MT of wheat toAfghanistan in 2020as part of the humanitarian aid amidst the covid pandemic.

India also supplied 20,000 litres of the pesticide Malathion 96% ULV to Iran viaChabaharport in 2020 to help Iran curb the menace of desert locusts.