Indian Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Murli Deora said here Thursday that a tripartite official level meeting is being held in Tehran between March 13 and 15 on Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) Gas Pipeline Project.

Deora said the Indian delegation will be led by Indian Petroleum Secretary. He pointed out that as domestic availability of gas in India is not adequate to meet the country's demand, gas imports are being pursued both as Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and through transnational pipelines.

He said secretary-level joint working groups have been set up separately with Iran and Pakistan to finalize details of the project .

The issues under discussion include gas pricing, project structure and Tripartite Framework Agreement.

Deora said a tripartite meeting of technical teams was held in Delhi in January 2006 to discuss project parameters. The progress of the 2000-kilometer IPI pipeline project was reviewed at a ministerial-level meeting between Murli Deora and his Pakistani counterpart Amanullah Khan Jadoon on Feb. 17, 2006, when the latter visited Delhi.

Source: Xinhua