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Iran Hosts Regional Summit Meeting

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Iran Hosts Regional Summit Meeting


By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
Published: May 24, 2009

CAIRO — Iran hosted its first three-way summit meeting on Sunday with Pakistan and Afghanistan to discuss cooperation on regional issues, the latest sign of Iran’s emergence as the regional power.

With Pakistan and Afghanistan fighting to hold back the rising tide of radical, Islamic insurgencies led by the Taliban, the meeting in Tehran seemed intended by Iran to assure its neighbors that working together the three could solve their problems without having to rely on the West.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran suggested that the United States was the main problem when he described “others who are alien to the nations and culture of our nations.” It was a not-too-subtle swipe, but still one that Washington’s allies from Pakistan and Afghanistan did not rebut. That served as another sign that Iran was increasingly seen as less of a threat to the West, and the region, than the prospect of the Taliban’s controlling Pakistan or Afghanistan.

“If we can save Pakistan and Afghanistan from these problems, from extremism,” President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan said in comments broadcast in Iran, “then such trilateral meetings are meaningful.”

Mr. Ahmadinejad, Mr. Karzai and President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan signed an agreement — called the Tehran Statement — in which they committed to work together to fight Islamic extremism and stop drug smuggling across their borders. Though the declaration did not outline specific action, it served as a sort of bookend to changes in regional dynamics that began after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, with the United States-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001 and of Iraq in March 2003.

The summit meeting also served as proof that Western efforts to isolate Iran over its nuclear energy program, through unilateral and United Nations Security Council sanctions, have given way to more pragmatic regional concerns.

Although the presidents of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan had met before in a larger gathering of regional leaders, the summit meeting on Sunday was the first among just the three of them.

Iran’s president, Mr. Ahmadinejad, said he was confident the meeting would “guarantee security and expansion of cooperation in the region,” in remarks reported by Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency. Iran was once bitter enemies with the Taliban, which controlled Afghanistan before the American-led invasion there. Iran was also once a regional rival of Pakistan. Iran is a Shiite Muslim state. Pakistan is a Sunni Muslim state, and often sided with other Sunni states, like Saudi Arabia, against Iran in political and regional matters.

Now, with the Taliban routed from power but waging an aggressive insurgency in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, the presidents of those two countries have turned to Iran, on their western borders, for help.

“There are many problems along our joint borders,” Mr. Zardari said, in comments reported by the Islamic Republic News Agency. “We cannot underestimate the problems and we should look for solutions to all of them.”

President Obama has also sought to re-engage diplomatically with Iran after three decades of animosity between it and the United States. Iranian officials have given mixed signals, sticking with their death-to-America ideology at home while suggesting that after presidential elections in Iran next month they may be willing to open talks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/25/world/middleeast/25iran.html?ref=world
 
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It is not the outcome of this meeting but the prospect that has potential to change dynamics of the region. You can bet that many in Delhi and Washington are pondering on that prospect because it changes Indo-US game plan in the region.
 
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One such prospect talked above are in making....

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Iran, Pakistan Gas Deal in Final Stage

TEHRAN (FNA)- Negotiations over a deal for exporting Iran's gas to Pakistan are now in the final stage, the Iranian Oil Ministry announced on Saturday.

"The Pakistani delegation under Assem Hossein, the Pakistani Prime Minister's Advisor on Oil and Natural Resources, conducted negotiations on Friday for finalizing the agreement on exporting Iran's gas to Pakistan," Iran's Oil Ministry said in a statement.

The meeting aimed at revising the agreement's text in accordance with the latest modifications agreed by the two countries and specifying the date for signing the contract, the ministry added.

The 2700-kilometer long plan was to send Iran's gas to the energy-hungry India and Pakistan to meet their needs but India evaded talks. Iran and Pakistan then declared they would finalize the agreement bilaterally if India continued to be absent in meetings.

According to the project proposal, the pipeline will begin from Iran's Assalouyeh Energy Zone in the south and stretch over 1,100 km through Iran. In Pakistan, it will pass through Baluchistan and Sindh but officials now say the route may be changed if China agrees to the project.

The gas will be supplied from the South Pars field. The initial capacity of the pipeline will be 22 billion cubic meters of natural gas per annum, which is expected to be later raised to 55 billion cubic meters. It is expected to cost $7.4 billion.

In a major breakthrough on March 20, the Pakistani government approved Iran's proposed pricing formula for the gas supplies.

Also Iran and Pakistan have included an article within their agreement that allows India to join the project at an appropriate time. The construction of the pipeline needs 4 to 5 years to complete.

Fars News Agency :: Iran, Pakistan Gas Deal in Final Stage
 
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