Petroleum minister Murli Deora (right) with his Pakistani counterpart, Amanullah Khan Jadoon, in New Delhi on Friday. (AFP)

New Delhi, Feb. 17: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today assured visiting Pakistani energy minister Amanullah Khan Jadoon that India was committed to the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project.

India viewed the project as a “pipeline for peace, progress and friendship of the three nations”, petroleum minister Murli Deora said at a joint press conference with the Pakistani minister.

“We are committed to the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline. The economics of this project is currently being investigated by internationally-reputed consultants. This is a necessary step in taking the pipeline project forward,” the Prime Minister said in Parliament.

In his meeting with Jadoon, Singh favoured the formation of a consortium of the three nations to build and operate the pipeline instead of the earlier position of buying gas at the Indian border, a senior official said.

The interaction with the Prime Minister was followed by a two-hour meeting between Deora and Jadoon, during which the project structure and pricing of the gas were discussed.

“The two ministers agreed that the Iran-Pakistan-India project was important to both countries in respect of their energy security interests and reiterated the desire of the two countries to accelerate the process of dialogue and consultation to realise the project in the shortest possible time,” a joint press statement released after the meeting said.

Deora said the three parties will meet for the first time in Tehran next month to carry the discussions forward.

After this meeting, the oil ministers of the three countries would meet in Tehran in April to possibly sign a framework agreement for the project and arrive at a project structure.

Asked whether Pakistan would go ahead with the pipeline as President Pervez Musharaff had said Islamabad would give up the Iran project if the US offered it the same nuclear deal as India, Jadoon replied, “We are very serious about the pipeline project. We need energy. We have to look after the interest of our people.”

He also claimed that the unrest in Baluchistan would not impact the proposed pipeline project as Pakistan was already managing a 10000-km pipeline network without any disruption in supplies.