Gas pipeline features in talks: Aiyar

Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar today said the $4.16 billion Iran-India gas pipeline passing through Pakistan would be considered a part of the wider economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

"The project cannot be looked at in isolation," he told reporters after a 45-minute meeting with visiting Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

When asked whether India had sought the most-favoured nation (MFN) status from Pakistan, Aiyar said: "This issue essentially involves the commerce and external affairs ministries, so we did not have a discussion on it. But, yes, MFN is very much a part of the wider economic and trade issues in which I was attempting to situate the discussion on the pipeline."

Also discussed was a proposal to allow New Delhi to use Pakistani territory as a transit zone for sourcing gas from Central Asia.

Aiyar said he had written two letters to Pakistan Petroleum Minister Amanullah Khan Jadoon on the issue of diesel exports and the Indo-Iran gas pipeline following the visit of Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri to India in September.

He said the relations between the two countries should not be limited but thought about in the larger context. "For the first time, a truly detailed exchange of views on energy security in the two countries took place. Talks were held in the South Asian and the national context."

Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riyaz Khokkar said the Iran-India gas pipeline passing through Pakistan was "a major confidence building measure (CBM) not just for the two countries but for the whole region, including Iran".