NEW DELHI - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, has sought Indian investment in his country's mine sector, especially in the iron ore mines.
Singh and Karzai held talks on the sidelines of the just concluded SAARC summit in the Maldives.
Speaking to journalists on his way back to New Delhi, Singh said on Saturday night that with the relations between the two nations in a very good shape following the signing of a strategic partnership agreement, Afghanistan now wants Indian investments.

"President Karzai also mentioned to me that in the changed situation he would like Indian investments in Afghanistan.
"In this connection he mentioned the iron ore mines which will soon be available for participation by foreign investment," the Indian Prime Minister said.

Singh said Karzai told him that the strategic agreement between the two countries was universally popular in Afghanistan "unlike the agreement which they are proposing with the United States, where they would require ratification only after the Loya Jirga has met and approved the draft."

"He (Karzai) said that it is a matter of great satisfaction for India-Afghanistan relations that there is no such demand for ratification of the Strategic Partnership Agreement that he has signed with India," Singh told journalists.

"We also discussed the security situation, the challenges that Afghanistan faces. On the whole, our relations with Afghanistan are in a very good shape, and there is enormous scope for expanding areas of cooperation between our two countries," Singh said.