The new round of Iran-Pakistan talks on what has been dubbed as a 'peace' pipeline started here with a positive note. The two sides discussed the remaining details of the gas contract and their talks will most likely conclude by Wednesday (tomorrow).
India has not officially announced its decision on the gas deal, but the latest remarks of Indian authorities showed their interest in resuming negotiations. Pakistan and Iran are expected to finalise draft Gas Sales Purchase Agreement (GSPA) and Inter-governmental Framework Agreement (IFGA) of the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project, it is learnt.
The Pak delegation, led by Petroleum Secretary Farrakh Qayyum was to discuss draft GSPA and IFGA of the multi-billion dollars project with an Iranian team headed by Ghanimifard. The Joint Working Group (JWG) could not finalise the draft in its last meeting in Islamabad on December 10 and 11.
Officials said that both Pakistan and Iran had already worked out the project's gas sale purchase agreement (GSP) and only technical and legal issues were left to be settled. They said that remaining technical points of the draft would be studied by the two sides' legal experts, paving way for the signing of the contract by the two countries and contracting companies hopefully in the next two to three months.
Under the agreement, Iran will build pipeline to the entry point on Pakistani border and from the entry point, Pakistan would build pipeline in its territory. The proposed 2,670-km IPI pipeline project has about 1,115-km length in Iran, 750-km in Pakistan and 850-km in India. Iran has already completed the one-third work on the project in its portion.
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