India-Iran-Ahmadinejad
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran began Asia's three nation tour on Monday.

At the first leg of his three-nation regional tour, Ahmadinejad will arrive Islamabad Monday morning.

He would leave Islamabad for Colombo on a two-day visit on the second leg of his tour this afternoon.

On the last leg of his regional tour Iranian President will reach New Delhi on Tuesday afternoon on a day-long visit.

Heading a high-ranking delegation, the Iranian President would hold separate talks with his Pakistani counterpart Pervez Musharraf and the country's Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.

During his visit to Sri Lanka, President Ahmadinejad will hold talks with his counterpart, Mahinda Rajapaksa. Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka and Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama on issues of bilateral interests.

Iran-funded multi-purpose Uma Oya Project will commence on Tuesday when the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and President Mahinda Rajapaksa ceremonially inaugurate the mega development project in Sri Lanka.

Ahmadinejad is also expected to inspect a number of projects which are carried out jointly by the experts of the two countries.

Several bilateral agreements will be signed during the Iranian president's visit.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will arrive in New Delhi on Tuesday afternoon on the last leg of his three-nation tour.

During his daylong visit to India, President Ahmadinejad is expected to meet the President Mrs. Pratibha Devisingh Patil and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.

The Iranian president will be leading a delegation, including ministers for foreign affairs, commerce, petroleum and energy and the head of Iran's Exim Bank.

He is also expected to discuss regional issues, with a view to bring peace and stability to the region.

The Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) Gas pipeline, which is expected to be the focus of the talks, will initially transport 60 million cubic meters of gas daily to Pakistan and India, half for each country.

The pipeline's capacity will later go up to 150 million cubic meters. Work on the pipeline is expected to begin in 2009 and finish in 2012.

With the India-US nuclear deal slipping into limbo, the Manmohan Singh government has shrewdly sensed the importance of reaffirming its ties with Iran, both as a placatory gesture towards its Leftist allies opposing the nuclear deal and as a pragmatic alternative source of energy for the country's growing economy.

With decks cleared for the construction of the US-backed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline, India is now focusing on the pricing issue with Tehran and transit fee with Islamabad to get the $ 7 billion IPI pipelines off the ground.

This could prove crucial for the country's energy security if the nuclear deal does not get through.

Oil ministers of India and Pakistan met in Islamabad last week and agreed to sign a bilateral agreement and to start construction of the pipeline by 2010.

India also wants to put back on track a floundering $ 25 billion deal for getting 5 million tonnes a year of LNG from Iran for the next 25 years.

As this will be his first meeting with Ahmadinejad, who came to power in August 2005, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to assure Iran that despite India's vote against Tehran at the IAEA first in September 2005 and then in February 2006, the millennia-old ties between the two countries are not hostage to the whims of any third country.

New Delhi sent a powerful message across when it snubbed Washington, despite their growing strategic ties, recently for offering gratuitous advice on its Iran relations, saying that it was for the IAEA to determine the nature of the Iranian nuclear programme and not for any individual country, however powerful it might be.

Mohammed Khatami, the President of Islamic Republic of Iran, along with a high level delegation comprising of Dr. Kamal Kharrazi, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ali Shamkhani, Minister of Defence and support to the Armed Forces, Dr. Mostafa Moeen, Minister of Science and Technology and Bijan Zangneh, Minister of Oil had visited India from 24 January to 28 January, 2003.