Islamabad: India and Pakistan today said they had reached consensus on basic issues for building a pipeline for procuring gas from Iran and were hopeful that work on the $7.5-billion project could begin next year.
India's Petroleum Minister Murli Deora and his Pakistani counterpart Khwaja Asif said they had made "significant progress" in bilateral talks on the India-Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline and were determined to go ahead with it despite reported reservations of the US on the project.
They said the two sides had reached a broad agreement on principles for deciding the transportation tariff and transit fee, two key issues that had held up the finalisation of the 2,600-km pipeline.
"We definitely made significant progress (on the basic issues related to the pipeline). Both parties will consult their respective governments and reach an early conclusion of the (bilateral) agreement (for the pipeline)," Asif told a news conference he addressed jointly with Deora here.
Describing the discussions on outstanding bilateral issues related to the pipeline as "very fruitful", Deora said, "We have reached agreement on the principles on which we hope the project can go ahead. India believes that close economic cooperation with its neighbours is not only a necessity, it also builds the stakes and trust that strengthen the overall relationship."
Both the ministers dismissed reports about US reservations on the project as it involves Iran. They said the US had not officially communicated any reservations on the pipeline to their governments.
