Iran-India pipeline will become a reality: FM

The much-expected Iran-Pak-India pipeline will not remain a pipe dream. Finance Minister P Chidambaram has asserted that the gas pipeline project will become a reality despite the concerns of the United States.

In a question-and-answer session that followed his address to the Peterson  Institute for International Economics--formerly the Institute for International Economics--here, Chidambaram, when asked about the 'pipeline politics', said:

"There is no politics. We wish to have a pipeline--Iran, Pakistan and India. And,  all these countries, to the best of my knowledge, have agreed in principle on the need and the feasibility of the pipeline."

The finance minister, who made a quick foray to Washington on Tuesday from New York where he is attending the Incredible India @ 60 celebrations, will meet US Treasury Henry M Paulson. Paulson will be in India from October 29 to  November 1 and headline with Chidambaram the US-India CEO Forum Infrastructure Investment Conference.

Chidambaram said, "What is still not resolved is the price of the gas."

Chidambaram said Salman Shah, adviser to the prime minister of  Pakistan, visited India about two to three weeks ago and he affirmed that the Pakistan government was also committed to the pipeline. In Iran, there has been some change of guard there. I don't know the details, he added. 

"But I think once the price of the gas is agreed upon, the pipeline will become a reality," he added.

Taking a swipe at the Bush administration and members of  the US Congress who urged India not to go ahead with the project, Chidambaram said, "We are disappointed that some countries should advise us against  the pipeline for other geo-political reasons."

"But we think that if Iran has gas, India needs gas, and Pakistan needs gas, there is nothing wrong in having an Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline," he said. 

Chidambaram asserted that "India is an energy-deficient country," but said that with regard to alleviating global climate change and eschewing carbon  dioxide emissions, "We are completely open to any idea."

"We accept the principle that carbon dioxide emissions must be reduced, we accept the principle that the carbon dioxide emissions must be de-coupled  from  energy consumption, but at the same time, we must  consume more energy because energy is a prerequisite for development.