Eurasia Press & News
Tehran and Islamabad have prepared the final version of an agreement for transferring Iran’s gas to Pakistan via a $7.4 bln pipeline, Iran’s top negotiator said. “Following technical negotiations on the gas pipeline, the Iranian and Pakistani delegations signed the deal and reached a final agreement on the issue of prices,” said head of the Iranian delegation and director for international affairs of the National Iranian Oil Company, Hojjatollah Ghanimifard, in Islamabad on Tuesday, PressTV reported.
“For the agreement to become legally binding, the initial version must be examined and approved by the energy ministers and senior officials of the two countries,” he added.
Ghanimifard and his delegation, which includes the Head of the National Iranian Gas Export Company Nosratollah Seyfi, have been negotiating with Pakistan’s officials in Islamabad since last week.
The Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline, also known as the Peace Pipeline, was originally proposed to transfer Iran’s gas to the Indian subcontinent.
A few weeks ago, Tehran hosted the first round of IPI pipeline talks, but the Indian officials refused to attend the meeting due to a disagreement between Islamabad and New Delhi on the transit fees for the transfer of the gas to the two countries’ shared borders. Iran and Pakistan agreed to continue talks in Islamabad to formulate the terms of a final agreement without India in case it failed to cooperate.
