India asks Pak to renew diesel import

Ahead of Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz's visit to New Delhi later this month, India has formally asked Pakistan to remove diesel from its negative list and permit its imports from Gujarat and Haryana through land and sea routes.

Union petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar has in two letters to his Pakistani counterpart Amanullah Khan Jadoon proposed talks on the import of diesel from India and the possibility of laying a trans-Pakistan multi-billion dollar gas pipeline.

Following Aiyar's letter, the Pakistan government initiated an inter-ministerial consultation and a meeting between Aiyar and Jadoon was expected to take place before the end of this month, local daily <I> Dawn </I> quoted officials as saying.

Both the ministers have invited each other for talks but the dates, and venue are yet to be finalised, it said. India says that supplies of diesel can be made to Karachi by sea and from Jamnagar and by tankers from Jalandhar to Lahore.

However, at present diesel is included in Pakistan's negative list of permissible imports from India.

Indian officials argue that Pakistan could save money by importing diesel from India as transportation costs would be far cheaper than getting the same from West Asia.

India has also offered to send a separate delegation of technical authorities to negotiate commercial terms if Pakistan agrees to delete diesel from the negative list.