ISLAMABAD, Feb 28: Pakistan has invited Iranian Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh to start tri-lateral negotiations on Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project on the sidelines of Saarc energy minister's conference next month.

The two-day conference of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation will be held on March 17 and 18 in Islamabad to promote regional cooperation in the fields of oil and gas, Petroleum Minister Amanullah Khan Jadoon told newsmen.

Speaking at a news conference, the minister said Indian Oil Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar would also be attending the conference and the two sides were expected to discuss the multi-billion dollar project on the sidelines of energy minister's conference.

He said Iranian oil minister has also been invited to take advantage of the occasion and hold tri-lateral discussions. Responding to a question, Mr Jadoon said Pakistan was currently in negotiations stage for the implementation of the project with all the parties and at the same time it was also looking into the import of Liquefied Natural Gas.

He said Turkmenistan has also sought a date for holding a meeting on Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan gas pipeline and hopefully the TAP steering committee would meet sometime in April.

Secretary petroleum ministry Ahmad Waqar said Pakistan was simultaneously holding discussions with Turkmenistan, Qatar and Iran for gas imports and decision would be made on the basis of lowest gas delivery price in Pakistan.

He did not agree that US sanctions against Iran could make gas import from Iran impossible and said the project could be implemented without US involvement because US sanctions did not mean UN sanctions.

Sources said no such a big pipeline project in the world has ever been completed without the involvement of the US, the UK or Japanese companies. However, other sources said it was yet to be seen whether Russian, French and Indian companies could join together to form a consortium for the project.