20 January 2005	Thursday	09 Zilhaj 1425

NEW DELHI, Jan 19: Three gas pipeline projects, two of them proposed through Pakistan, to India are proving to be a key test of New Delhi's diplomatic skills, Indian Foreign Minister Kunwar Natwar Singh admitted on Wednesday.

"One of the most significant challenges before Indian diplomacy is the setting up of trans-national oil pipelines that would economically carry natural gas from supply points thousands of kilometres away and reach India by crossing different countries," Mr Singh told an international petroleum seminar.

He listed three pipelines as under consideration. These are the Myanmar-Bangladesh-India pipeline, the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline and the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline.

All the three pipelines are attractive techno-economic proposals and have the ability to meet the pressing energy requirements of the countries through which they pass, in addition to providing urgently required financial resources to the supply and transit countries, Mr Singh said.

"These pipeline proposals have within them the ability to qualitatively transform the relationships of the countries of the region," Mr Singh said. "In this regard, I applaud the progress made recently in Yangon, in the development of the Myanmar-Bangladesh-India pipeline, in which (Indian Petroleum Minister Mani Shanakar) Aiyar played a significant role.

I am also aware of the important discussions that have taken place recently between the Iranian and Indian petroleum ministers on the Iran-India pipeline," he said.

Mr Singh recalled that the mediaeval Indian ruler, Sher Shah Suri, is remembered today not because of his success on the battlefield, but because he envisaged and established, 400 years ago, the Grand Trunk Road.