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Our Bureau

New Delhi, Sept. 25 India has decided to skip the trilateral official level talks on the $7.4-billion Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline pending resolution of bilateral issue with Pakistan, including the one pertaining to transit fee.

Iran has called a meeting of technical experts and lawyers from the three nations during September 24-26 to exchange views on the gas-supply contract that India and Pakistan, as consumers, would have to sign with it. Officials of the three countries were to then discuss the issue on September 27.

Official sources said crucial bilateral issues with Pakistan need to be resolved first before any discussions on contractual issues at a trilateral level is discussed. India and Pakistan have reached a broad understanding on the transportation tariff payable to Pakistan for transporting natural gas through the 1,035-km pipeline segment in that country, but the two have not yet arrived at any agreement on the issue.

The bilateral meeting of officials from India and Pakistan was scheduled in Islamabad last month. However, no mutual dates were confirmed, sources said. The bilateral talks were to be followed by trilateral discussions. Besides the issue of transit fee, India and Pakistan would also have to resolve between each other the response to Iran’s request for a price revision clause, sources said. India and Pakistan are to sign separate gas purchase agreements with Iran and will take deliveries of gas at Iran-Pakistan border. India will separately enter into an agreement with Pakistan for transporting gas through its territory. The pipeline would be laid in the three nations separately.

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