India's oil minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said that he is eager to continue negotiations
India's oil minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said that he is eager to continue negotiations on a proposed gas pipeline from Iran to India through Pakistan with Pakistan?s Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Wednesday.
"We repeated what we have said earlier about using Pakistan as transit corridor (for sourcing gas from Iran)," he said.
The negotiations on the 1,600-kilometer pipeline estimated to cost more than $4 billion began in 1994, but little headway was made due to tensions between Pakistan and India and the project's massive cost.
However, warming ties between India and Pakistan since April 2003 have revived hopes the project could go ahead.
India could save millions of dollars in gas import costs and Pakistan could meet its own energy needs while earning millions of dollars annually in transit fees, analysts note.
