INDIA/PAKISTAN
India onto the Iron Silk Road
Although India did not sign the so-called Trans-Asia Railway Network (TARN) agreement on 10 November, within a few weeks New Delhi seems to have changed its mind. Rail India Technical and Economical Services, a public enterprise under India's Ministry of Railways, has been asked to conduct a feasibility study of the project. The sudden re-think seems to be linked to worries that, while India stood watching, China would be successfully improving its own regional relations and connections, particularly given its recent agreements to build rail tracks in Burma and Thailand.
The TARN agreement was signed by 17 countries, including China, under the auspices of the United Nations' Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). Although currently hampered by a great disparity in gauge sizes, the ultimate plan for TARN, sometimes called the 'Iron Silk Road', will be a linking of Europe with Chinese ports, and the inclusion of several branch routes.
Alongside a great number of West, East and Southeast Asian states, Nepal and Sri Lanka are for the moment the only Southasian countries that have signed up. The remaining countries have until the end of 2007 to enter into the agreement.
INDIA/PAKISTAN
No on Iran gas, then maybe
Here is where India and Pakistan agreed to something – the rejection of the final report of a consultant mutually appointed with Iran to find a way out of the gas-pricing impasse. Agreement would have revived the chances of the Iranian pipeline, but now the project appeared dead in the water. Initial reports stated that both Islamabad and New Delhi had rejected Singapore-based Gaffney Cline's conclusion out of hand, with India's Petroleum Minister Murli Deora saying that the pricing recommendation was "not acceptable" to the Indian and Pakistani governments.
Days later, however, Pakistan said that this was untrue. A spokesman for the petroleum ministry in Islamabad said that the new conclusions were still being examined. Although all details are currently being kept secret, the ministry spokesman said that the matter would be addressed at a meeting in Tehran scheduled for January.