EU seeks India's help on Iran's nuclear programme

Feb 10, 2012, 10:24 GMT

New Delhi - The European Union on Friday asked India to use its influence to bring Iran to the negotiating table over its nuclear programme, and Brussels and New Delhi expressed confidence on reaching a free trade deal soon.

'We shared our deep concern on the Iranian nuclear programme,' European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said after the EU-India summit in New Delhi.

'I asked Prime Minister [Manmohan] Singh to use India's leverage towards Iran to help bring Tehran back to the negotiating table,' he said.

Singh said the Iranian nuclear issue should be settled through negotiation.

'There have been problems with the Iran nuclear programme,' he said. 'We sincerely believe that this issue should be resolved by giving maximum scope to diplomacy.'

The EU has placed an embargo on Iranian oil and has frozen accounts of its central bank to try to compel Tehran to give up its atomic programme.

India, which has traditionally had good ties with Tehran, imports 12 per cent of its oil from Iran and is not inclined to participate in the sanctions.

Rompuy said India and the EU had made 'substantial progress' over the free trade deal, which would be among the world's largest by population, covering more than 1.7 billion people.

'There are complex issues involved, but we have both agreed to expedite discussions so that we can conclude an agreement at the earliest,' Singh said.

India and the 27-nation EU have missed several deadlines on the broad-based trade agreement, negotiations on which began in 2007.

The EU is India's largest trading partner, accounting for 114 billion dollars in trade in goods and services in 2010.

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