Pakistan and India here Tuesday agreed to set up a joint working group at the secretary level to accelerate work on the proposed 4-billion-US-dollar Iran-Pakistan- India gas pipeline project.

India also evinced interest in the 3.5-billion-dollar Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) pipeline and the Gulf- South Asia pipeline from Qatar, said a joint statement released at the end of Indian Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar's three- day visit to Pakistan.

Pakistani Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Amanullah Khan Jadoon briefed his Indian counterpart of the details of these projects, which are aimed at meeting Pakistan's growing energy requirements.

Aiyar said he would be looking forward to an invitation to attend the next Steering Committee Meeting of TAP and it might seek its extension to India.

On the Iran-Pakistan-India project, the two countries agreed to exchange information regarding financial structuring, technical, commercial, legal and related issues to realize a safe and secure world class project.

The two sides during their meeting reviewed the project and were of the view that it would go a long way in meeting the energy security requirements of the two countries.

The statement termed the project "significant" for the peoples of the two countries.

The Indian oil minister's visit followed decisions taken during the meeting of Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on April 18. They agreed that the ministers of both sides would meet to explore cooperation on the issue of pipelines.

During his stay in Islamabad, Aiyar called on President Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. He later held delegation-level talks with his Pakistani counterpart Jadoon.

They agreed that the transnational pipeline projects should be given top priority as it would be of substantial advantage to both countries to serve their energy security interests.

The project would create linkages and interdependencies for establishing an enduring relationship between the countries, the statement added.

They were of the view that owing to the substantial requirements of gas by both countries, the processing of the project should be accelerated.

Aiyar invited Jadoon to visit India so as to maintain the momentum of dialogue and cooperation. The invitation was accepted and it was decided that the Pakistani minister would visit India at his earliest convenience.

It was also agreed that Aiyar would again visit Pakistan at mutual convenience later in the year.

Source: Xinhua