India ready to negotiate on Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline

Indian Foreign Affairs Minister, Salman Khorshid, announced here in Tehran New Delhi's readiness to enter negotiations over the extension of Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline to India, Press TV reported Sunday. India is ready to participate in the project, Khorshid made the announcement on Saturday in a meeting with Ali-Akbar Velayati, the senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. On March 11, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari inaugurated a gas pipeline project in Iran's southeastern Chabahar city, which is projected to link Iran's gas pipeline to that of Pakistan. When the 1,600-km pipeline is completed by mid-2014, as scheduled, Iran is expected to export some 21.5 million cubic meters of natural gas to Pakistan on a daily basis. Khorshid also expressed his country's readiness to invest in the development of the Iranian port of Chabahar, according to Press TV. Tehran and New Delhi are expected to ink an agreement to turn Chabahar into a hub for the transit of Indian goods to Afghanistan. Khorshid arrived in Tehran on Friday to attend the 17th meeting of Iran-India Joint Economic Commission, scheduled to be held in the Iranian capital on May 3-5.