Ahmadinejad visit to focus on pipeline

NEW DELHI: Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be here on Tuesday for a visit lasting a few hours. He is expected to focus on speedily concluding negotiations over the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline. The visit will be taking up in the backdrop of efforts by Pakistan to build up a case for China joining the $7.5 billion IPI gas pipeline project. In one of the most anticipated but brief visits by a foreign dignitary, the Iranian president will meet President Pratibha Pratil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Discussions between Mr Singh and Mr Ahmadinejad are set to focus on the IPI gas pipeline issue among other political and economic issues. New Delhi also has reason to start moving on the IPI project with both Pakistan and Iran discussing and openly welcoming the possibility of China joining the project.

Mr Ahmadinejad, who also squeezed in a stop over visit to Pakistan, said on Monday that Iran was open to China���s participation in the gas pipeline project. ���The IPI gas pipeline agreement will soon be finalised and my government will also welcome the inclusion of China in the project,��� Mr Ahmadinejad said according to agency reports. The Iranian president held discussions with Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf and premier Yousaf Raza Gillani.

Though many in the government feel that the inclusion of China could be a move to pressure India to move faster on the project, the fact remains that Pakistan has recently stepped up its efforts to get China on board. Iran and Pakistan have also suggest earlier that the two countries are even open to the idea of India being replaced by China. A move that officials claim is unlikely to happen at this stage when the pipeline project is still in the conception stage.

India has now stepped up efforts to push the deal towards a logical conclusion with petroleum minister Murli Deora holding talks with his Pakistani counterpart in Islamabad recently to resolve the disagreement over transit fees. It is understood that the matter is in the final stages.

Iran and Pakistan both share the belief that India has adopted a go slow policy on the pipeline project due to opposition from the US. In the last year, the UPA government, which has been busy negotiating the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, had refrained from attending a number of meetings on the IPI project. But with the nuclear deal running the risk of coming unstuck, the government clearly does not want another energy deal to run out of steam.