Islamabad, Jan. 1 (PTI): Pakistan, India and Iran will finalise the tripartite framework agreement and project structure of the proposed gas pipeline next month, said Ahmad Waqar, petroleum secretary of Pakistan. “The IPI gas pipeline project is progressing satisfactorily and petroleum secretaries of the three countries will meet in Tehran in February.”

The meeting will finalise a tripartite framework agreement and the project structure and launch a detailed feasibility study, he added.

Waqar said Iran wants each country to construct the pipeline in its respective territory, whereas another proposal seeks laying the whole pipeline as an integrated project from the gas field in Iran to distribution points in Pakistan and India.

Pakistan’s Interstate Gas Co Ltd has appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers as financial adviser, Waqar was quoted as saying by Dawn.

Waqar declined to comment on the US opposition to the project.