NEW DELHI, Dec 28: India and Iran began a new round of talks on Wednesday to review progress on a tri-partite deal to build a gas pipeline project through Pakistan that the three nations aim to finalise by June, an Indian official said.

Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister for International Affairs Mohammad Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian and India’s top civil servant in the petroleum ministry, S.C. Tripathi, were leading the two days of discussions in the Indian capital on the seven-billion-dollar project.

“They will be discussing all aspects relating to the pipeline — the quantity of gas, the quality and prices and the route,” said the senior official.

India, Pakistan and Iran, which has the world’s second-biggest natural gas reserves, have said they hope to conclude a deal by June 2006. The Indian official said the deadline still held.

India has said construction of the pipeline should start in 2007 and be operational by 2011.

The talks will also look at the financing of the pipeline, the official said. The pipeline will run through Pakistan’s Balochistan province.

India has said strong security guarantees are needed for the project to get financing. The tri-nation project will be financed through a three billion dollar equity contribution and debt of four billion dollars, Indian media reports have said.

The Indian government issued a statement on the eve of the talks on Tuesday saying it had been “watching with concern the spiralling violence in Balochistan and the heavy military action” by Pakistan to quell it.

New Delhi’s hopes of importing gas from Iran through Pakistan got a boost in 2004 when it began a peace process with Islamabad. India and Pakistan say they see the pipeline as a big confidence-building move.

Plans for the pipeline to bring natural gas to India have sparked sharp opposition from Washington which accuses Iran of seeking nuclear arms and being a state sponsor of terror. But New Delhi has said warming ties with the US do not affect its close relations with Tehran.—AFP