Mumbai, Aug 25 (IANS): Iran will be the partner country at India's largest chemicals and petrochemicals event - India Chem 2016 - to be held here September 1-3, industry chamber FICCI said on Thursday.

India Chem, the ninth edition of which will be held at the Bombay Exhibition Centre here, is a joint initiative of the Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, while the theme this year is "Exploring Opportunities".

Iran will be putting up a pavilion, which will be inaugurated by Iran's Ambassador to India Gholamreza Ansari, the statement said.

A host of other countries such as China, Japan, Turkey, Singapore, Vietnam, Britain, South Korea, Belgium and Taiwan will also be participating, it said.

While more than 15 countries are expected to participate, Gujarat, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh will take part as partner states in the event, which is "expected to attract big ticket investments from foreign shores to boost India's chemical industry", the statement added.

Iran's participation here assumes significance following the signing earlier this year between India, Iran and Afghanistan of the Chabahar trilateral transit and trade corridor deal that will ensure easy movement of goods between the three countries, bypassing Pakistan.

India is to invest up to $500 million in the project to develop Iran's Chabahar port, located on the coast of Gulf of Oman and over 70 km from Pakistan's Gwadar port that China is developing.

The Chabahar port transport and transit corridor would help link trade routes from the Indian Ocean to Afghanistan, Central Asia and beyond.