India, Pakistan, Iran to hold talks on gas pipeline project

India and Pakistan will take up the issue of gas price at the first official tripartite talks on the Iran pipeline project in Tehran next week, a senior Indian official said here Friday.

Indo-Asian News Service quoted Indian Petroleum Secretary M.S Srinivasan as saying that the three sides will discuss some of the pending issues including gas price at the first official level tripartite meeting scheduled to be held in Iranian capital Tehran on March 13-15.

"The gas price issue has never come up so far into the focus of talks. We have sounded out the idea with Pakistan and it will be the key issue we would be discussing," he said.

Iran, India and Pakistan would strive to prepare a project structure, price range and the draft framework agreement ahead of the trilateral ministerial meeting planned in April, said Srinivasan who will lead the Indian delegation to Iran.

The ministerial level talks are expected to see some firm commitments on the framework of the project including the quantity and the route of the pipeline.

Till December last year, the talks on the 2,000 km pipeline from Assaluyeh in Iran to the India-Pakistan border had been on bilateral level.

The technical teams from the three countries held discussions in New Delhi in January about issues, such as the quality of gas, pipeline specifications and the possible route of the project, in order to prepare for this March meeting.

Source: Xinhua