Talks on IPI gas pipeline from May 22

The trilateral working group meet will take place in Islamabad.

The next trilateral working group meeting on the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project will take place on May 22-24, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said on Thursday.

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The minister denied reports that Iran and Pakistan had reached an agreement allowing higher offtake of gas by Islamabad from the proposed gas pipeline that would also cover India.

Iran's Deputy Petroleum Minister (International Affairs) MH Nejad Hosseinian during his visit to New Delhi on May 1-2 had informed India that no such agreement as reported by a section of the media had been reached with Pakistan, Deora said in a written reply.

The next round of the trilateral meeting would be held in Islamabad, he said.

India was discussing the details of the projects with Iran and Pakistan at bilateral and trilateral levels.

So far, three meetings each of the bilateral joint working groups and one meeting of the trilateral working group had been held.

The meetings had discussed various technical, commercial, financial, legal and other issues related to the 2,000-km pipeline project.

The progress of the discussions was also reviewed by the Petroleum Ministers of the three countries in Doha last month.