India not to attend pipeline talks

With the transit fee issue with Pakistan yet to be resolved, India has decided not to attend the proposed trilateral talks in Tehran for finalising the much delayed multi-million dollar three-nation gas pipeline deal.

Iranian Ambassador Syed Mahdi Nabizadeh said here on Tuesday that there was no response from India to their proposal to hold a meeting on February 12 or 13.

He pointed out that technical issues between New Delhi and Islamabad were yet to be finalised and regretted India’s absence at three earlier meetings in Pakistan.

“According to our policy, we have tried our best to achieve the main objective of arriving at a trilateral agreement. We are still trying,” he said.

Reliable sources said that the decision not to attend the talks in Tehran was taken after deliberations at the highest level.

An agreement on the deal has been in limbo for almost one year. On its part, the United States has openly expressed concern over the deal and expressed the hope that India would not go ahead with the project.

The sources said Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora will first go to Pakistan after the conclusion of general elections there on February 18 and only then would the possibility of trilateral talks arise.

The Pakistan Energy Minister met Mr. Deora in London recently and invited him to Islamabad to settle the transit fee issue.

Another meet postponed

The sources said another meeting was proposed in Islamabad on the sidelines of the Steering Committee meeting of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project on February 13-16 but that was also postponed indefinitely.

New Delhi has, since July 2007, not taken part in trilateral meetings on the project owing to non-resolution of the transit fee issue.

While India and Pakistan agreed on the transportation charge for the 1035-km route of the pipeline, differences continued on transit fee payment.

Under the ambitious project, Iran will lay a 1,100-km pipeline from the Persian Gulf to the Iran-Pakistan border, while Pakistan will lay a 1,035-km pipeline from its border with Iran to the Indian border. India will then pipe the gas to consumption centres.

News Source : Samachar