Modi, Iran President discuss bilateral cooperation, regional issues

New Delhi, Feb 17 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday discussed bilateral cooperation across a range of areas and regional issues during a meeting with Iran President Hassan Rouhani here.

Modi welcomed Rouhani at the Hyderabad House here ahead of delegation-level talks between the two sides.

"Both leaders held substantive and productive discussion on cooperation in trade and investment, energy, connectivity, defence and security, and regional issues," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted

Earlier on Saturday, Rouhani, who arrived here on Friday evening from Hyderabad, was a accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

This the first presidential visit from Iran to India in 10 years and comes after the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the West Asian nation in 2016.

Following the ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also called on the visiting dignitary.

"Strengthening cooperation in energy, connectivity, IT, education, culture and people-to-people contact came up for discussion," Kumar said in a separate tweet following that meeting.