Iran pipeline: India skips meet over transit fee issue

India is skipping crucial official-level talks on the $7.4-billion Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline beginning in Tehran this week, saying it will not attend tri-nation meetings unless the transit fee issue is resolved with Islamabad.

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

"We have communicated to Iran's Petroleum Ministry's Special Representative H Ghanimi Fard and Pakistan's Petroleum Secretary Farrakh Qayyum that we will not be attending the trilateral meeting unless bilateral issues are resolved with Pakistan," a top petroleum ministry official said.

India's Additional Secretary in Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas S Sundareshan wrote to Ghanimi last week: "As we have stated in the past, the bilateral issues between India and Pakistan, including inter alia the transit fee for the passage of gas through Pakistan, need to be resolved first."

"We feel that a bilateral meeting between India and Pakistan should precede the proposed trilateral meeting," he added.

Iran, meanwhile, on Saturday, expressed impatience with India over finalising of the multi-billion-dollar gas pipeline deal via Pakistan, warning that it could go ahead with Pakistan alone if India procrastinated.