India may skip Tehran meet on IPI pipeline

NEW DELHI—India is unlikely to attend a meet called by Iran next week to finalise the long-delayed IPI gas pipeline as it wants to settle the transit fee issue with Islamabad before signing the multi-billion dollar deal.Petroleum Minister Murli Deora is unlikely to visit Tehran on February 12-13 for the tri-lateral meet on the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline, a source close to the minister told PTI. Deora would instead make a visit to Islamabad sometime after general elections in Pakistan to settle the issue.
“A meeting in Islamabad was proposed on the sidelines of the Steering Committee meeting of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project on February 13-16 but the meet is not happening because of elections in Pakistan,” the source said.Iranian Ambassador to India Seyed Mehdi Nabizadeh said an invitation for the next week’s meeting has been sent.—Agencies