Tuesday, April 18 2006 13:19 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Dubai: India has favoured a diplomatic solution to the Iran nuclear imbroglio and wants confrontation to be avoided at all costs.

"India's consistent position has been that the issue must be resolved amicably through dialogue and discussion," said E Ahamed, Minister of State for External Affairs and the Special Envoy.

"All sides must work towards a diplomatic solution and confrontation must be avoided at all costs," he told reporters in Kuwait yesterday.

Ahamed, who is on a two-day visit, met the Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and held discussions on a wide-range of bilateral issues.

The minister also called on Prime Minister SheikhNasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

The Emir has accepted greetings and felicitations from the President A P J Abdul Kalam on becoming the country's new Emir. He also accepted an invitation from the President to visit India. In the run up to the Emir's visit, Sheikh Sabah would travel to India in mid-June.

"During his trip, the Emir would sign variousagreements and discuss issues which would further consolidate Indo-Kuwaiti friendship and partnership," he was quoted as saying in the Kuwait Times.

"Both sides are also in the process of finalising a series of memoranda of understanding (MOUs) pertaining to issues such as labour, avoidance of double taxation, investments and economic cooperation for ratification during HH the Amir's visit," he said.

"The MOUs are in line with the comprehensive economic cooperation agreement reached between the Gulf Cooperation Council members and India at GCC-India conference that was held recently in Muscat," Ahamed said.

"Both countries will also work towards identifying more areas of cooperation such as education, power generation, oil and petroleum, infrastructure development, capacity building and free trade," he said.

A high-level business delegation will accompany the Emir during his India visit. The business delegation will meet the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce (FICCI), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Assocham with a view to strengthening bilateral trade relations and boosting investment opportunities in both countries.

He said India is an emerging economic power in the region and as such it seeks to play a major role for realizing an 'economically integrated community' in the zone.

"India has vast resources in various fields such as science and technology, IT and healthcare and the country wants to share its expertise and experience with its neighbours," he added.

Defending India's claim to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Ahamed said India is eligible for the membership in many ways.

"India has one fifth of the world population. It is a multi-religious and multi-ethnic nation with a vibrant democracy," he said.

With a view to providing a window of opportunity to other nations India, Japan, Germany and Brazil have jointly moved a framework in the Council.

"We hope that this move will provide a momentum for reform in the Council which needs drastic changes in tune with the new global reality," he said.