A trilateral meeting of technical experts from Iran, India and Pakistan would be held to finalise a framework agreement on implementation of the IPI gas pipeline project, which will run through the three countries. The finalised agreement would subsequently be signed at the ministerial meeting scheduled to be held in Tehran in June.

Officials from Iran and Pakistan currently discussing the modalities to finalise the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project have decided to convene a meeting of technical experts from the three countries in the third week of next month, an official statement on Saturday said.

Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Nejad Hosnienian who arrived here yesterday held talks with Pakistan Petroleum Secretary Ahmad Waqar on the issue and discussed a pricing formula and technical details of the project.

Pakistan had originally sought 2.1BCFD of gas from Iran for its domestic requirement, which was updated to 2.6BCFD at Friday's talks at the joint working group, the statement said.

The two sides observed with satisfaction the considerable progress on the project and discussed in detail the technical, financial and legal aspects of the project, which included the gas pricing, pipeline routing, structure, gas qualities and build-up, the statement said.