Pact on Iran-Pak-India pipeline in 2 to 3 months: Ambassador

Hyderabad, Aug 4 (UNI) An agreement on the Iran-Pakistan-India [IPI] gas pipeline project would be reached in the next two to three months, Iranian Ambassador to India Sayed Mehdi Nabizadeh today said.

There were only some ''minor hitches'' which would be ironed out soon, he said during an interaction in the city after the ground breaking ceremony of the Consultate office.

On the nuclear issue, he said Iran was for peaceful use of nuclear energy and ready for inspection by any international body.

Earlier, in his address after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy laid the foundation stone for the consultate office, the Ambassador recalled the 700-year-old cultural relations between Hyderabad and Iran and hoped Hyderabad's share in expansion of economic, tourism and scientific ties between the two countries would further increase.

The bilateral trde between the two countries had increased from two billion US Dollar to seven billion US Dollar now.

Conservation of the Qutub Shahi Tombs would be counted as the first experience between Iran and India on cooperation in restoration and preservation of historical monuments which stood as testimony to the common heritage of both the countries, Iran Consul General Hossein Ravesh pointed out.

Over 2.70 lakh documents had been preserved for posterity under an Iranian project for repair, binding and digitalizaton of manuscripts at the Oriental Manuscripts Library since March this year, he added.

UNI