Slated to visit Tehran later this month to further strengthen ties, external affairs minister SM Krishna on Thursday said New Delhi was in touch with Tehran to resolve issues relating to pricing and security of the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline.
The minister talking to media persons a day after both Iran and Pakistan sealed pacts to launch the much-delayed tri-nation project, said, ?We are in consultation with the government of Iran. We have certain issues about pricing and security of the pipeline.?
Responding to a question about the exclusion of India from the pipeline project, Krishna said that, ?They (issues) have been taken up with the government of Iran.?
With India going slow over joining the pipeline, Pakistan and Iran on Wednesday decided to go ahead and inked two agreements in Turkey to seal the $7.5 billion pipeline deal. Inter-State Gas Systems, a semi-autonomous Pakistani company, signed the pipeline deal with the National Iranian Oil Company.
Reportedly, the two countries signed the Operational Agreement (OA) and the Heads of Agreement (HOA). However, the agreement left the door open for India by providing for the transportation of gas ?if and when India decides to join the project?.
Under the provisions of the pact, Pakistan will have the right to charge a transit fee for transporting the gas to India. The fee will be calculated in accordance with international practices, the reports said.
India maintains the concern over security as the pipeline will pass through the volatile region of Balochistan. The surge in militancy in Pakistan has only fuelled India?s security apprehensions about the pipeline.
Senior officials in the government have indicated that the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project will be one of the major issues to be discussed at the next meeting of the India-Iran joint working group (JWG). ?The JWG is expected to take place in Tehran where the foreign minister accompanied by senior officers will represent India,? said officials.
Krishna?s visit to Iran, his first as foreign minister, will come shortly after foreign secretary Nirupama Rao visited Tehran in February.
Even as the agenda is in the process of being firmed up for Krishna?s visit, apart from the pipeline, Afghanistan will be one of the key issues to be discussed between the two sides, government sources disclosed.
The pipeline known as the ?Peace Pipeline? will carry 750 million cubic feet of natural gas from Iran?s vast resources to Pakistan by mid-2015. Iran holds world?s second largest gas reserves after Russia. Initially proposed as an offshore pipeline through Pakistan?s exclusive economic zone, the current plan under discussion is an overland route from the South Pars fields in southern Iran, through Pakistan and on to India. In the first phase, the pipeline would supply 60 million cubic metre of gas a day equally to India and Pakistan. The second phase would add another 90 million cubic metre a day and supplies would be shared between Pakistan and India at a ratio of 40% and 60% respectively.
It maybe recalled that the Iranian ambassador to India Seyed Mehdi Nabizadeh had recently at a press conference said, ?Our negotiations with Pakistan have gone ahead to the stages of implementation…We have kept our doors open for India to join the project. It (Iran) will not wait indefinitely. There must be a time limit.?
The IPI project was conceived in 1995. India has not taken a firm decision regarding its involvement in the project, citing security concerns in Pakistani territory. In the 2,100 km, the Iran-Pakistan portion is expected to be constructed in five years.
Although the IPI talks have not broken any new grounds, post 26/11 Mumbai attacks; the whole project has come to a standstill. However, with the recent conclusion of India-Pakistan talks at the foreign secretary level, there is hope that India will react in a positive manner over the IPI.
According to sources, while India also rejected the hefty transit fee demands of Pakistan, reportedly, both Iran and Pakistan are keen to get China on board.