Today India’s Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar began a visit to Pakistan to talk about a natural gas pipeline from Iran and Turkmenistan through the country.
“We want to discuss all technical aspects with Pakistan for importing natural gas from Iran and Turkmenistan,” said Aiyar as he arrived in Lahore, Pakistan.
Indo-Asian News Service Friday quoted a senior Indian Petroleum Ministry official as saying that this is the first in-depth dialogue between India and Pakistan over the issue.
After years of distrust, the dialogue is also seen as a positive move in bilateral relations between India and Pakistan, an outcome of the visit by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to New Delhi in April.
“The engagement is basically political. We have already had three rounds of talks with the Iranians, with considerable progress. But as the pipeline project is a tri-nation project, we need to engage with the third party,” said the official.
The United States has expressed concern about the pipeline. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that New Delhi should explore other ways to meet its energy needs.
“We will not come under the pressure of any country,” said Aiyar in response.
A big question about the pipeline is the issue of security. “On the commercial front, the crucial issue is to find out what Pakistan is thinking in terms of transit fee as also the cost of security, as the pipeline would pass through some geographically inhospitable territory,” the official said.
The natural gas pipeline project is estimated to cost somewhere in the ballpark of 5 billion US dollars. As India and Pakistan hold their talks, trade of Indian petroleum goods is also expected to be opened up across the border.
Chris is a staff writer for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest ebusiness news.
