New Delhi: India today (Nov 24, 2004) said the $ 4.16 billion Iran-India gas pipeline passing through Pakistan will have to be considered as a part of wider economic and trade cooperation between New Delhi and Islamabad.

"The project cannot be looked at in isolation," Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar told reporters after a 45-minute meeting with the visiting Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

Aiyar said the wide economic and trade cooperation included Pakistan granting India Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status and allowing New Delhi to use its territory as transit for sourcing gas from Central Asia.

Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riyaz Khokkar said the Iran-India gas pipeline passing through Pakistan was "a major confidence building measure (CBM) not just for the two countries but for the whole region, including Iran."