NEW DELHI, Sept 21: The oil ministers of India and Pakistan will meet before the end of the year to discuss the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project, United News of India said on Tuesday.

The news agency quoted unidentified officials travelling with Prime Minister Mamohan Singh to New York that India would also push its proposal to export diesel to Pakistan by a proposed pipeline.

The sources said the exact date and venue of the meeting would be finalised soon in consultation through diplomatic channels. The decision to hold the meeting was taken during the visit to New Delhi by Foreign Minister Khurshid M. Kasuri.

Indian Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, who knows Mr Kasuri from his Cambridge days, also met the Pakistani minister. The two countries have been discussing the 3.5-billion-dollar pipeline, designed to transfer gas from Iran to India through Pakistan, since 1994. However, progress has not been possible due to recurring tension between the two countries.

Despite Pakistan's promise of providing full security to the proposed 1,600-kilometre pipeline, India has been wary of Islamabad's attitude, UNI said. It said New Delhi feared that Pakistan might turn off the gas supply tap as and when tension increased between the two countries.

"If our security concerns are adequately addressed, this project could turn out to be the economic bedrock which could buttress many more economic cooperation proposals," the agency quoted the official sources as saying.

"The economic gains for Pakistan estimated between $600 million and $800 million annually in transit fee alone are a reasonable guarantee against sabotage." The sources said warming ties between India and Pakistan augured well for the project.

For Iran, which holds the world's largest gas reserves after Russia, the Indian market is as important as the European market, which it hopes to serve one day through a pipeline across Turkey. India is a large importer of energy products, purchasing nearly 70 per cent of its annual requirements.