Pakistan and Iran will finalize an agreement on the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline by Jan. 25 and is also likely to sign a gas sale purchase agreement next week, Pakistan's caretaker Petroleum Minister Ahsan Ullah Khan said Monday.
"Of course, we are signing it (agreement on the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project) before Jan. 25 and most probably next week we would sign a gas sale purchase agreement," Khan told Dow Jones Newswires.
"The other set of agreements would also be signed soon," he said, without elaborating.
Presidents of both Pakistan and Iran are likely to sign the agreement after Pakistan's cabinet gives its approval Tuesday, the minister said.
Separately, a Pakistan government official said the signing ceremony of the agreement would be held in United Arab Emirates.
Both sides concluded technical level talks late December in Tehran and held a round of talks in Islamabad early December. A working group agreed on the legality of various agreements.
Iranian officials said they are still hopeful of including India in the project. Iran has added a new "comfort agreement" along with another set of agreements to include India in the pipeline project, the officials said.
"If India joins the diameter of pipeline would be 56 inches, otherwise it would range between 36 to 42 inches," says Farrukh Qayum, secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum, who led the Pakistan side during the talks of working group.
A decision to add India would also be finalized this month, Qayum said.
In a meeting of Economic Coordination Committee on Tuesday, the government will approve these agreements giving the green-light for signing the agreements, which would be finalized by the Petroleum and Foreign Ministry, Petroleum Ministry officials said.
Iranian officials are also confident that an agreement will be signed this month.
"The Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project is one of the most important economic projects in the region, which will bring extensive benefits for the three countries. And the bilateral agreement between the two countries will be finalized by January 25," Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan Mashallah Shakeri said over the weekend.
Shakeri also hoped that India would also join the project.
Iran had started executing the project by laying the pipeline from its gas reserves to the frontier with Pakistan, he said.
Pakistan is considering two routes for the pipeline - one from Quetta to Rahim Yar Khan and the other one is to connect Sukkar and Karachi.
Pakistan's part of the pipeline is likely to cost between $2.7 billion and $3 billion, ranging from 700 kilometers to 1,050 kilometers.
According to Iran and Pakistan estimates, the project is likely to start by mid-2008 and be completed by 2012.