Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Ahmadinejad’s to Visit India: IPI Pipeline, the Dominating Issue

South Pars Gas Field
Asaluyeh, Iran

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to arrive in New Delhi today for a short visit expected to be dominated by talks on India’s participation in Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project. Ahmadinejad will be pressuring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to sign off on the $7.5 billion project to transport natural gas from Iran’s South Pars gas field to Pakistan and India.

On Monday, Iran and Pakistan said they ironed out differences on the 2,200-km (1,615-mile) pipeline during a brief stopover by Ahmadinejad in Islamabad.

India has been under tremendous pressure from the US not to sign off on IPI pipeline project. But India is an energy-hungry nation which has to import 70 percent of its energy needs. The IPI pipeline would go a long way in meeting those needs.


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