Pakistani and Iranian officials began high-level talks here on Sunday to discuss a multi-billion Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project, officials said.

It is the second time in less than a month that the two sides are holding experts level talks on the 7.1 billion U.S. dollar project.

Iran's Deputy Oil Minister Mohammad-Hadi Nejad Hosseinian arrived in Islamabad for the four-day talks early on Sunday.

The Pakistani side is led by Secretary of Petroleum Ahmed Waqar.

The Pakistan and Iran joint working group are discussing technical and financial issues, focusing on the finalization of pricing formula, the officials said.

Pakistan had sent a draft gas pricing formula to Iran based on domestic gas pricing mechanism and the two sides discussed the formula in the talks.

Officials said the two sides will hold further discussion on the infrastructure and proposed route for the 2,670 km pipeline in the four-day extensive talks.

Besides the meeting of Pakistani and Iranian officials, a trilateral meeting of Iran, Pakistan and India is to be held in the next four days.

If implemented, the 2,670 km pipeline will have 1,115 km in Iran, 705 km in Pakistan and 850 km in India.

Source: Xinhua