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Pak to address India's concerns on gas pipeline

Spokesman of the ministry of petroleum and natural resources Jehangir Basher told reporters in Islamabad that Pakistan had already conveyed to Iran its readiness to provide assurances for the security of gas supplies through the pipeline.

Pakistan's petroleum minister has written a letter to his Iranian counterpart expressing support to the project, he said. He said Pakistan was prepared to address Indian concerns about security of the pipeline.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar, meanwhile, told Iran's IRNA news agency that Islamabad was keen to have the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project approved at the earliest and that Pakistan had already expressed its readiness to go ahead with this project.

"The government of Pakistan has changed its previous position with regard to the pipeline and we have assured Iran of our co-operation in this regard," he said.

"We hope negotiations between Iran and India on the project reach a satisfactory conclusion," he said, adding "Even if India does not agree, we can have bilateral agreement for supply of gas from Iran to Pakistan," he said.

"We need to co-operate with the Central Asian republics, Iran and Afghanistan in the field of energy," he added.

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