ISLMABAD, March 10: The two-day Saarc energy ministers’ conference scheduled to be held in Islamabad from March 17 to 18 has been postponed owing to inability of some of the ministers to be here on the dates.
Consequently, a trilateral meeting of the petroleum ministers of Pakistan, Iran, and India on the gas pipeline project that was to be held on the sidelines of the conference has also been put off.
Confirming the postponement of ministers’ conference, Foreign Office spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani said new dates would be worked out in consultation with member states.
In reply to a question, Mr Jilani said that Pakistan had offered to host a trilateral meeting of Iran, Pakistan and Indian ministers on the gas pipeline project on the sidelines of ministers’ conference and obviously that had also been postponed.
Pakistan had invited Iranian Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh in February to visit Islamabad to begin negotiations on the pipeline project on the sidelines of ministers’ conference.