Talks on a natural gas pipeline from Iran to India via Pakistan are progressing well and mainly await a pact over price, delivery and transmission routes, Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar has said.


"I am looking forward to going to the Pakistan in the near future. A pipeline is very much on its way," Aiyar told Hardnews magazine in an interview for its upcoming May issue, referring to the $4.2 billion pipeline to import gas from Iran via Pakistan.

"As far as the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline is concerned, I had two meetings with my counterpart in Iran. Then we had one techno-commercial discussion in New Delhi followed by a techno-commercial workshop in Tehran," the minister said.

"Now arrangements are being made for bilateral and trilateral talks," said Aiyar, scheduled to visit Islamabad towards the end of next month to discuss the proposed project among other issues in the hydrocarbons sector.

"It is simply a question of arriving at an agreement over price, quality, delivery schedule and transmission routes."

The petroleum minister made it clear that while New Delhi respected Washington's concern on the proposed pipeline from Iran, all decisions would be taken keeping in mind the national interest.

"I do not think there is any ambivalence among our neighbours. And I do not think there is any pressure from the outside world," Aiyar said.

"Yes, we are all aware of the US concern over Iran's nuclear programme, and we are all together trying to find a solution to that under the aegis of the International Atomic Energy Programme," he said.

"I think many of these fears hit the headlines, and there is no truth in them. What concerns me much more is the pace at which we are progressing."

As explained by External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh in parliament, ties between India and the US are now sufficiently mature for New Delhi to be able to contain any difference in the perception of national interest, he said.

Aiyar also spoke about other gas pipeline projects, including those proposed from Myanmar via Bangladesh, as also from Turkmenistan via Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"With respect to the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) pipeline, and whether it could be extended to India, we have heard media reports of the TAP approaching India in order to make it TAPI," he said.

"If we do get such an invitation, I think our response is likely to be positive. But allow me to wait for a formal invitation. I have been to Kazakhstan and have interacted with Turkmenistan. So there is a lot of activity taking place."

In the case of Mynamar-Bangaladesh-India pipeline, work should begin after the signing of the inter-governmental memorandum of understanding among the three countries, Aiyar added.