Pranab Mukherjee to visit Iran next week

NEW DELHI: Foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee is set to travel to Iran for a two-day visit next week, the foreign ministry said on Thursday.   

"Mukherjee's visit is part of the regular process of high-level exchanges between the two countries," a statement said, adding that the visit was to begin on Tuesday. Iran's foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki visited India in November.   

Mukherjee will meet with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other senior officials during the visit, the statement said.   

The Indian foreign minister's trip follows close on the heels of the visit by an Indian team to Tehran to negotiate with Iran and Pakistan the price of gas via a proposed a multi-billion dollar pipeline.   

Talks on the proposed multi-billion-dollar pipeline -- to supply Iranian gas to India through a 2,600-kilometre pipeline via Pakistan -- began in 1994. Discussions are stalled over pricing, with Tehran saying New Delhi and Islamabad were unwilling to pay the asking price.