Narinjara News

Dhaka, February 3

Burma authorities propose meeting on tri-nation gas

pipeline

The Burmese authorities sent a proposal to both India

and Bangladesh, to hold the first meeting of the

working committee of the proposed tri-nation gas

pipeline, in Rangoon on Feb 14, said an official

report of the Bangladeshi Energy Ministry.

If Bangladesh and India agree to Burma's proposal, the

meeting will be held in Rangoon.

If held, the meeting will be the first for the

tri-nation gas pipeline project's working committee,

after all three nation's energy ministers agreed on

the gas pipeline project at a meeting in Rangoon in

mid January.

The project proposes to transport gas from Arakan

State, in Burma, on to India through Bangladesh.

According to sources, the six member working

committee, two representatives from each nation, will

attend the meeting which aims to settle policy issues

of the project.

Burmas representatives for the working committee are

to be the Director General of the Energy Ministry and

the Managing Director of Myanmar Petroleum

Corporation, said a Burmese official source.

The committee is to hold discussions in all the three

countries in order to determine the pipelines route

and work out ownership and other technical issues.

The committee plans to prepare and submit a Memorandum

of Understanding (MOU), to facilitate the signing of

the tri-partisan agreement, by April.

On January 12th and 13th, Burmese Energy Minister,

Brigadier General Lun Thi, Indian Petroleum and

Natural Gas Minister, Mani Shanker Aiyar, and

Bangladesh Energy and Mineral Resource Minister, AKM

Mosharraf Hossain, attended the first tri-nation gas

pipeline project meeting in Rangoon.

In the meeting they agreed to cooperate in gas

exploration and an on-land pipeline project to pump

offshore natural gas from Burmas western state of

Arakan, to India, through Bangladesh.#

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