Iran's Energy Minister Majid Namjou urged India to invest in the country's energy sector, the semi- official ISNA news agency reported Monday.

The Iranian minister called on Indian private sector to make investments in generating electricity in Iran, saying that Indian private companies can start their investments in renewable energies by establishing new pilot projects, said the report.

Namjou made the remarks during a meeting in Tehran with visiting Indian Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah.

Namjou said that Iran plans to make investments to generate more than 1,000 megawatt of power through renewable energies and is also ready for mutual cooperation with India in new energies.

He said that Iran enjoys the capacity to establish 60,000- megawatt solar power plants as well as 40,000-megawatt wind farm.

The Indian minister, for his part, expressed India's readiness to cooperate with Iran in generating electricity via renewable energies which can help boosting mutual cooperation in the field, said ISNA.

In January, India defended Tehran's right to develop its civil nuclear energy program but made it clear that it should be within the parameters set out by the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA).

"With reference to Iran, we have taken a very consistent position. We expect every nation to pursue its nuclear energy ambitions to its logical conclusion," Indian External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna was quoted as saying during a visit to Israel.

Krishna also said the Iranian nuclear program should be subject to the parameters set out by the IAEA.

India is also pursuing a staunch policy of developing civil nuclear energy with several nuclear plants being planned or under construction with Russian and French technology.