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November 20, 2007 14:54 IST
India said on Tuesday it will meet Pakistan 'soon' to resolve issues such as transit fee that have stalled a trilateral agreement on the proposed multi-billion dollar gas pipeline originating from Iran.
However, the country did not give a time frame for such talks. India has since August not attended any talks on the pipeline over what it called "unresolved bilateral issues" with Pakistan.
"A meeting between India and Pakistan on the IPI project is being proposed soon," Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dinsha Patel said in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.
New Delhi first excused itself for a bilateral meeting with Pakistan and then boycotted the September trilateral meeting in Tehran, saying it first wanted to resolve the issue of transit fee payable to Islamabad for wheeling the gas through that country.
Iran and Pakistan have since held four meetings and are close to signing a bilateral pipeline deal, possibly next month.
"Such multilateral projects involve protracted discussions, as all the aspects have to be carefully examined and deliberated upon to the satisfaction of the participating countries to protect each country's interests as also to avoid any future problems in the successful operation of the project," Patel said but did not give any deadline for talks.
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