New Delhi
29 April 2008
India, Iran and Pakistan hope to finalise a tripartite agreement on the
three-nation gas pipeline in the next 45 days, visiting Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmedinejad said here.
"The ministers from all the three countries hope to come to a tripartite agreement in the
next 45 days. They will finalise and give their conclusions to their leaders, who will
decide later," he said at a news conference on Tuesday night.
Describing Iran's relationship with India as "deep and historic", the President said the
"two sides are too close to each other and hope in the future we will finalise the gas
pipeline project."
On extending the pipeline to China, he said, "We have recieved one proposal. We will
evaluate it and consider its merit and evaluate all aspects of the proposal."
For its part, New Delhi has said the gas pipeline project is doable. Foreign Secretary
Shivshankar Menon said officials from the three countries will meet soon to continue
discussions on the project.
Mr Menon, however, qualified by saying a "lot of work" needs to be done to ensure that it
is commercially viable and secure and that there were assured supplies.
The issue is not of treating the pipeline project as a commericial transaction but to see
the potential as a confidence-building measure between the three countries, Mr Menon
said after three-hour talks between Mr Ahmadinejad and Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh.
"It is much more than a commercial project. We also see it as a confidence building
measure between the three countries. It will last for 40 years. We see it as an assured
supply to meet our energy needs," he said.
A meeting of the India-Iran Joint Commission will be held in the middle of the year where
the two countries will discuss ways and means to strengthen their relationship, Mr
Menon added.
The 2,600 kilometre long pipeline is estimated to cost 7.5-billion dollars. Work on the
pipeline is expected to begin in 2009 and finish in 2012. Pakistan and Iran have agreed
to hold a meeting of their foreign ministers to discuss and fix dates for signing the
agreement.
On the Iranian nuclear issue, Mr Ahmadinejad said India "officially supported" Iran's
right to peaceful nuclear activity. On Washington's statement urging India to ask Iran for
suspending its uranium enrichment programme, the Iran president said New Delhi had
already given "a very good and appropriate response to the other side."
He was referring to the April 22 statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs, in
which New Delhi issued an uncharacteristically strong rejoinder to Washington, which
accuses Iran of trying to build nuclear weapons.
The spokesman of Ministry of External Affaurs has said, "Both nations are perfectly
capable of managing all aspects of their relationship with the appropriate degree of care
and attention [and] neither country needs any guidance on the future conduct of bilateral
relations as both countries believe that engagement and dialogue alone lead to peace. It
is important that the genius of each nation living in a particular region is respected and
allowed to flower to meet the expectations of enriching relations with neighbours."
To a specific question whether Iran had put behind the issue of India's vote against Iran
in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mr Ahmadinejad said the vote had an
impact but "the relations between Iran and India is much more deeper" and their ties
would remain unaffected despite the pressure applied by "bullying powers" like the US.
Mr Ahmadinejad arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday afternoon, on the last leg of a three-
nation South Asian tour of Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India. It was the first visit to India by
an Iranian president in over five years. Mr Mohammad Khatami was the chief guest for
the Republic Day celebrations in January 2003. Mr Ahmedinejad came to power in
August 2005.
To a question on the status of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) deal, Mr Ahmadinejad said
it was stuck in a "legal interpretation of law". India is keen to clinch a 25 billion dollar
deal for getting five million tonnes per year of LNG from Iran for 25 years. The
agreement, which was signed in 2005, was frozen due to differences on prices between
Tehran and New Delhi.
The Iran President spent about six hours here. He called on President Pratibha
Devisingh Patil at Rashtrapati Bhavan and also met with Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh at his 7 Race Course Road residence. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hosted a
dinner for him.
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