Deora to visit Pakistan on April 23 for pipeline deal

New Delhi, Apr 14 (UNI) Petroleum Minister Murli Deora today said he will be on a two-day visit to Pakistan for talks on six billion dollar TAPI pipeline project on April 23-24, and will simultaneously discuss the issue of transit fee with Pakistan for IPI pipeline project.

''I will visit Islamabad in the next week for talks on Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline. We are very soon going to hear some achievement on the project,'' he told reporters on the sidelines of the fifth Asia Gas Partnership Summit here.

There will be a bilateral talk with Pakistan on Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) for resolving the issue of transit fee between the two countries, he said.

''We are very optimistic to resolve the transit fee issue. Our technical teams would be leaving tomorrow to firm up their recommendations with the Pakistan,'' he added.

The issue of transportation fee was sorted out by the two governments and now the focus would be on the transit fee.

UNI MP BJR HT1504