Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon after talks between the visiting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on April 29, reiterated India’s stand that the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline was ‘doable.’ Mr. Menon however also stated that the pipeline required a lot of work in order to ensure its commercial viability, security and assured supply. Both Pakistan and Iran have expressed similar sentiments.

Meeting his Pakistani counter part, Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad on April 28, Mr. Ahmednijad hoped that the IPI agreement “will be finalized soon.” He also welcomed the proposal that China join the project.

Meanwhile, a senior political expert at Rand corporation Christine Fair speaking to the Economic Times stated that the proposed IPI pipeline was "absolutely infeasible" in the foreseeable future because financial, political, legal and security circumstances did not support it. She averred that none of the three countries involved in the talks had “the resources to fund the pipeline” that there were “serious security concerns,” especially as it passed through Baluchistan in Pakistan. Fair also asserted noted that no public or private consortium would agree to build due to the issue of Iran's nuclear quest1.

• 1. “India-Iran gas pipeline ‘infeasible’ for now: US expert,” Economic Times, May 3, 2008, at http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News_by_Industry/India- Iran_gas_pipeline_infeasible_for_now_US_expert/articleshow/3006835.cms