The presidents of Iran and Pakistan are set to inaugurate a gas pipeline project between the two countries on Monday (today), Iranian state media reported. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his counterpart, Asif Ali Zardari, along with several of their ministers, are to kick off the project along the shared border in Iran's south-western Sistan-Balochistan province on Monday, the reports said.
The Iranian part of the pipeline has already been built. The ceremony is to commemorate construction of work up to the Pakistani border.
The 1,600-kilometer pipeline would enable export of 21.5 million cubic meters of Iranian natural gas per day to Pakistan. The entire project has an estimated cost of 1.5 billion dollars.
After finishing more than 900 kilometres of the pipeline on its soil, Iran has said it is prepared to take charge of the construction for the rest on the Pakistani side of the border.