In the rapidly intensifying international energy game, Iran holds a master key to the most staggering roadblock to India’s economic growth--energy insecurity.
According to Asia Times, with the issue of energy cooperation that dominated recent talks between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his hosts in New Delhi, a new chapter in India-Iran relations is on the horizon that will likely bring the two countries closer.

New Delhi has no alternative, whatever the side-effects with respect to its relations with the US, but to pursue comprehensive energy cooperation with Iran.

With oil prices skyrocketing, India’s thirst for cheaper imported gas has acquired greater urgency than ever before, considering what the Hindustan Times has termed as the growing ’supply-demand mismatch’ reflected in the recent news that ’as against an overall requirement of 77 million standard cubic meters per day (mmscmd) of gas between April 2007 and January 2008, only 37 mmscmd was supplied’.
Sure, India has other prospects besides Iran and, in addition to investing in Yemeni oilfields and negotiating with Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar, questing for a piece of the Iraqi energy market and scouting various African countries, Indian officials have also been playing catch-up with China in Central Asia lately, seeking deals with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.
However, with Turkmenistan’s proximity to Iran and Iran’s ability to act as an energy corridor for the subcontinent, the salient importance of Iran is indisputable.
In addition to the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline, India has set its eyes on a Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline that is, for now at least, more of a pipedream because of growing insecurity in Afghanistan, reflected in the bold assassination attempt on President Hamed Karzai in Kabul.
Thus, with the TAPI put on hold pending security developments in Afghanistan, India, which has come out empty handed from its recent gas efforts with respect to, among others, Myanmar and Bangladesh, has woken to the simple fact that nearly all roads lead to Tehran.
So, instead of TAPI, a revised TIPI (Turkmenistan-Iran-Pakistan-India) may be plotted, whereby Turkmenistan’s plentiful gas reserves can reach both India and Pakistan.
This is not to mention Iran’s ability to expand its present oil-swap agreements, for example with Kazakhstan, whereby India could collect crude at Iran’s Persian Gulf terminals the equivalent of what the Kazakhs, or for that matter Azerbaijanis or even Russians, deliver at Iran’s northern and Caspian points.
Iran’s hitherto ill-explored oil riches in its Caspian sector are also a candidate for joint ventures with Indian companies.
Already, beginning in 2005, Iran and India have entered into a $40 billion, 25-year LNG agreement, and India, along with China, is a (30 percent) shareholder of a joint company to develop Iran’s largest oil field, the Yadavaran.
Iran and India have also reached an agreement for development of Chabahar and construction of a highway from that port city to Afghanistan and Central Asia, as part and parcel of the ambitious project known as the North-South Corridor.
The Oil Ministry posits India as the fourth-largest consumer of Iran’s energy, while India, which imports more than two thirds of its oil needs, anticipates this figure to increase by up to 90 percent by 2030 following a 1997 parliamentary document ’Hydro-carbon Prospects 2025’.
New Delhi therefore has no alternative, whatever the side-effects with respect to its relations with the US, but to pursue comprehensive energy cooperation with Iran.

Kish has natural sightseeing spots and is a tourist resort that can attract Croatian tourists, said head of Kish Free Trade Zone Organization, Davoud Madadi in a meeting with Croatian Ambassador to Iran Esad Prohic in Tehran on Tuesday.
Madadi added that Kish Organization seeks to provide a secure and pleasant atmosphere for tourists.
Referring to water sport facilities in Kish, he invited Croatian investors to conduct business in the zone, reported IRNA.
In addition, Madadi referred to direct flights between Croatia and Kish Free Trade Zone and pointed out that visits to the Persian Gulf island have been made easier since tourists traveling on the route do not require entry visas. Croatian ambassador, for his part, said that water sports in Kish Free Trade Zone and expansion of tourism industry can help enhance cooperation.

Mashhad will host the First International Exhibition of Tourism Equipment and Services, Hotel Administration and Industrial Kitchen for three days from May 27.
According to IRNA, managing director of Mashhad International Exhibition said that the objective of the event is to introduce the latest achievements in the tourism sector mainly in hotel administration and related industry.
Given Mashhad’s status as the world’s second religious metropolitan, Seyyed Mohammad Seyyedi pointed out that Mashhad plays a key role in attracting tourists. “Some 76 domestic and eight foreign companies will put on display their products in an area of 2,100 square meters,“ he said.
Representatives from Turkey, Indonesia, China, UAE, Germany, South Korea, India and Malaysia will take part in the three-day event.

President Ahmadinejad says food price rises in Iran are mainly due to a global economic slowdown, adding that the government will do its best to overcome the economic troubles.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday that people’s purchasing power has improved. “All in all, people’s living condition has improved from what we see in the statistics for per capita purchasing power,“ Ahmadinejad said in a televised press conference, IRNA reported.
The president blamed external factors for high inflation but acknowledged that ’in some sectors, conditions are not what we would want to see’.
“In the housing sector, some social groups could be under pressure but, all in all, purchasing power has increased.“
Ahmadinejad’s comments come a day before parliament was to begin censure motion against Commerce Minister Masoud Mirkazemi over high prices, especially those for staple goods.
Inflation rate in the 12 months to April 19 was 24.2 percent, the Central Bank has said. In the previous month alone, consumer prices rose 3.1 percent. One of the government’s measures to fight inflation was to increase imports.
“External factors which are beyond the control of the government have hindered our efforts but we are trying to resolve them,“ Ahmadinejad underlined.
The reasons for inflation have been identified and the government will put forward its economic plan to solve them in late June,“ Ahmadinejad promised. “I will personally supervise activities in the housing sector,“ he declared.
He also vowed to improve the condition of low-income citizens and pensioners, in particular by raising salaries. “Of course, the budget needed for this has not been allocated to us (by the parliament) this year. But the government is seriously trying to manage the budget to increase salaries of the retirees and state employees.“
President Ahmadinejad also said the government will soon release a detailed plan for solving the country’s economic problems.
An elaborate scheme to counter the current economic problems was to have been released earlier, but it was delayed due to some issues, he said, adding that the plan would be released in mid-June and its implementation would begin in October.
Ahmadinejad said that food price rises in Iran were mainly due to global economic slowdown, adding that the government would ’do its best’ to overcome the current economic troubles.
He stressed that the government would also take serious measures against economic mafia.
According to the International Monetary Fund, inflation is the most important challenge facing Iran’s economy, which has been robust in recent years.
The IMF has recommended that the Iranian government strengthen its fiscal stance, increase interest rates and allow greater exchange rate flexibility to tame runaway inflation in the oil-rich country.
It has also urged the government to prioritize further strengthening of the public finances and improving the overall efficiency of the economy, such as by phasing out the large subsidies on energy products and replacing them with targeted social assistance in the mid-term.
On structural reforms, the international body said, implicit energy subsidies have been reduced, the preparatory work for implementing the value added tax (VAT) is close to completion, and tax collection agencies have been upgraded with new information technology.

Norwegian energy group StatoilHydro has said that it aims to put its part of Iran’s South Pars (SP) gas field development project into operation by mid-2008.
Chief Executive Eldar Seatre said that in the current year, the company would produce about 10,000 barrels of oil per day from phases six to eight of South Pars gas field, Reuters reported. “We haven’t committed any (further) investment in Iran,“ he said on the sidelines of a presentation of the group’s first-quarter results.
StatoilHydro has invested about $300 million in South Pars gas field development project, but has been under pressure from the US, which seeks to isolate Iran over its nuclear program.
“For us it’s a delicate situation, obviously, and first we will have to look further into the opportunities and then at the context of the restrictions involved,“ Seatre said.
“We have an open dialogue with the US authorities, so we know about their perspective and they know about ours.“
Royal Dutch Shell and Spain’s Repsol have announced that they pulled out from a development project for Phase 13 of South Pars gas field. However, they voiced interest in exchanging their stakes in Phase 13 of the offshore gas field with projects in phases 20 or 21.

Deputy director of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Railways Company for development affairs has announced that Iran plans to produce 60 percent of the locomotive parts domestically.
Ali Akbar Tarikhi told MNA that funds have been envisaged in the March 2008-2009 Budget Law for the production of 60 percent of the required locomotive parts domestically in cooperation with the private sector.
“Prior to production, we will prioritize the parts based on production potentials, raw materials availability and the policies of the railway sector,“ he added.
Tarikhi explained that two locomotive prototypes were to be domestically produced this year by investing approximately $10.8 million.

Non-oil exports increased by 16 percent in the year to March 2008, announced Deputy Commerce Minister Mehdi Ghazanfari.
Speaking to ISNA, he said that in March 2006-7, $13 billion worth of non-oil goods, excluding gas condensates, were exported and the figure reached $15.1 billion in March 2007-8.
Annual growth rates for non-oil exports from March 2002-3 to March 2007-8 were 7.44, 8.28, 3.28, 5.9, 18.2, and 16 percent respectively.
This official further noted that the figures for the growth of non-oil exports were higher than those for non-oil imports.