India to join TAP gas project

New Delhi—India is expected to formally join a proposed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan pipeline project being steered by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), news reports said Wednesday. Representatives from Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India are scheduled to meet in Islamabad on November 28 to discuss the project, The Hindu newspaper reported.
The meeting has been called by the ADB and is likely to see India formally joining the project. After the project agreements are signed, the parties would study the project’s feasibility and work out a financial structure, the report said. So far, India has had an observer status in the project. Analysts say that after India put the Iran-Pakistan-Afghanistan pipeline on the back burner, there has been an increased urgency on joining the Turkmenistan project.
The Indian economy has been growing at an average 8.6 per cent for the past four years, accompanied by an ever-increasing demand for energy. Iranian English newspaper Iran Daily carried a write-up on IPI gas pipeline by Mohammad Ali Darvish which says: “Iran and Pakistan ended their talks in Islamabad with the finalization of a deal to export gas which will be signed by heads of the two countries.
Following three days of expert-level talks between Iran and Pakistan, ministers and envoys of the two countries started a new round of discussions on Friday in which they finalized the formal agreement. Therefore, as of today, India must independently continue talks to finalize the deal. It must also hold talks on a contract on the gas pipeline passing through Pakistan.—Agencies