Pak-India talks on Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline start

The two-day second meeting of the Pak-India Joint Working Group (JWP) on the proposed multi- billion US dollar Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline started here Thursday.

Federal Secretary of Petroleum Ahmad Waqar and Advisor to Prime Minister Mukhtar Ahmed led the Pakistani delegation while the Indian side was led by Secretary of Petroleum Sushil Chand Tripathy.

The meeting reviewed progress made after the first JWG meeting held in July in New Delhi and discussed in detail technical, commercial, financial and legal aspects of the project.

Both sides expressed their satisfaction over its pace and emphasized to work closely for commencing the project as quickly as possible.

Earlier, in his opening remarks, Waqar said that negotiation between Pakistan and India on the IPI gas project were moving forward in a positive manner and expressed his satisfaction over the pace of progress in this regard.

He said the consistency in JWG meetings would pave way to reach a fruitful conclusion.

Reciprocating his sentiments, Tripathy said both countries were working to promote confidence building measures and the gas pipeline project would prove to be a milestone for prevailing mutual understanding on the regional issues.

Source: Xinhua