India to export wheat to Iran: PM

India will export wheat to Iran as part of the government's moves to step up agricultural revenue, Prime Minister Atal Bihari said on Friday.

''We have agreed to export wheat to Iran as requested by President Mohammad Sayed Khatami during his recent visit to India,'' the prime minister told an election rally in Himachal Pradesh.

He said agriculture remained a key priority for his government and that the country had earned Rs 6,000 crore (Rs 60 billion) from wheat exports alone so far.

Also, there were sufficient stocks of food grains that met the demands of 14 drought-affected states, Vajpayee added.

''Rice is being distributed at Rs three per kg to people below the poverty line and wheat at Rs two a kg,'' he said. India, the prime minister said, also had sufficient reserves of foreign currency and non-resident Indians were making huge investments in the country.

Loans were being repaid for the first time in independent India's history before their deadlines, he added. "There is no reason to believe we cannot be self-sufficient.'' The prime minister also expressed the hope that his government's highway projects, when completed, would ease transportation of goods from one corner of the country to another.

''Goods will be picked from the sea ports and transported to their destination on four-lane high speed highways, cutting fuel costs,'' Vajpayee said.

The Golden Quadrilateral, linking the four metros, alone would cut Rs 8,000 crore (Rs 80 billion) in fuel costs, the prime minister added.

The government, he reiterated, also planned to use atomic energy for electricity production because of fears that hydel and thermal resources might run out in the coming time.

Also, Vajpayee vowed to achieve 100 per cent literacy in the country and said efforts would also be stepped up to check disparities in the male-female ratio.

UNI