Kasuri to visit Iran

Islamabad, Dec 18 (UNI) Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri will pay a two-day official visit to Tehran from December 20 for talks with his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki on a range of issues including regional situation and the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project.

''The two foreign ministers will take stock of bilateral relations and exchange views on regional and international issues of mutual concern,'' Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasneem Aslam told a press briefing in here.

She said that bilateral relations had significantly strengthened between the two countries in the last five years.

Ms Aslam added that with the increase in economic and trade ties between the two countries, their annual bilateral trade now stood close to 670 million dollars.

Pakistan and Iran signed the preferential trade agreement (PTA), which came into force in September this year.

Recalling a telephonic conversation between Pakistani and Iranian Presidents on December 1, she said that the two leaders had decided to resolve the pricing issue to formally kick off the IPI project.

Mr Kasuri's talks with Mottaki will, therefore, also focus on finalising the project at the earliest, she added.

In case of materialisation of the 2,670 km pipeline, the project will cover 1,115 kilometers in Iran, 705 kilometers in Pakistan and 850 kilometers in India. Pakistan expects that about 1,400km long pipeline will be completed by 2010-11, as a number of international investors are expected to finance the gas project.

However, Islamabad and New Delhi have not yet agreed to the pricing mechanism proposed by Tehran for the 7-billion dollar project.

But local media reports recently quoted Petroleum and Natural Resources Secretary Ahmad Waqar as saying, ''a consensus will emerge in the forthcoming tripartite meeting scheduled in Tehran this month''.

India has already rejected the price of 8 dollars per million British thermal units (BTUs) for Iran's Brent crude and had sought 4.25 dollars instead.

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