Iran, Pakistan and India will hold the first trilateral talks here on a proposed natural gas pipeline linking Iran and India via Pakistan on March 14 and 15, the official IRNA news agency reported on Wednesday.

In addition, Iran and Pakistan will hold a round of preparatory bilateral negotiations on Sunday, during which the pricing mechanism and other related points will be discussed while a draft agreement on trilateral cooperation over the gas pipeline project is expected to be reached, Deputy Oil Minister Hadi Nejad- Hosseinian was quoted as saying.

The transnational gas pipeline, proposed in 1996 to meet the mounting energy needs of India and Pakistan, had been staying on paper for years due to shaky relations between India and Pakistan.

The recent thaw of ties between the two foes set the stage for the implementation of the 4-billion-U.S.-dollar project.

Iran, Pakistan and India are hopeful to start construction of the 2,700 km pipeline in 2007 which is likely to be operational by 2011.

Iran ranks second in the world with proven natural gas reserves of 27,800 billion cubic meters.

Source: Xinhua