India and Iran today signed an agreement on air services that will increase the number of flights between the two countries.<br/><br/>Two more cities have also been added to the schedule. The memorandum of understanding to this effect was signed after the two day India-Iran Joint Commission meeting chaired jointly by External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and Iranian Minister for Economic Affairs and Finance Seyed Shamseddin Hosseini in New Delhi. <br/><br/>According to an official release the agreement has the potential to spur greater trade investment, tourism and strengthening the cultural exchange between the two countries besides bringing the air services in tune with the developments in the international civil aviation scenario. <br/><br/>The new agreement will supersede the earlier one signed in April 1980.Five other pacts were also signed. They include agreements in Transfer of Sentenced Persons, Cooperation in New &Renewable Energy and Small Scale Industry besides Science &Technology. <br/><br/>The meeting of the Joint Commission provided an opportunity to review bilateral economic and cultural cooperation and next Session would be held in Tehran. During discussions in the two day talks the two sides focussed on rejuvenating bilateral economic ties and agreed to cooperate closely in stabilising Afghanistan through enhanced counter-terror cooperation.<br/><br/>AIR correspondent reports that wide-ranging talks were held at their joint commission meeting to further widen and deepen the strategic cooperation between the two countries.<br/><br/>The visiting Iranian Minister on a three-day visit to India met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and discussed issues relating to double taxation avoidance treaty and bilateral investment pact that could give a fillip to trade and investment and infuse new life into ties. He also had discussions with the National security advisor Shiv Shanker Menon on the security related issues.<br/><br/>Both sides expressed their common stakes in the stability of the violence-torn Afghanistan. The Indian side pressed for structured and regular consultations with Iran on defeating terrorists in Afghanistan and in the region. <br/><br/>Hosseini also called on the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh last evening and discussed issues of mutual concern . Official sources said, the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline came up during the talks and New Delhi reiterated its concerns over pricing and security issues. <br/><br/>Earlier, the visiting Iranian minister pitched for doubling bilateral trade to 30 billion US dollars by 2015. He invited Indian firms to invest in mining, pharmaceuticals, transportation, automotive, textiles and agriculture sectors.