"Our energy needs are going to increase exponentially in the next 20 years and there's no other way but to have this kind of an arrangement," Foreign Minister Natwar Singh said in an interview with The Hindu newspaper. "Our petroleum minister is going to Pakistan very soon. The earlier impression was that India was the stumbling block. We are not," Singh said. The minister said New Delhi would proceed with the project despite Washington's reservations made known by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a visit here in March. Rice offered talks on energy cooperation with India, which a state department official later said would encompass civilian nuclear power as well. "It's recognition that they (India) have enormous energy needs. Their economy is going fast, they have a huge population," the U.S. official added. In the interview with The Hindu, the Indian foreign minister also said a peace dialogue with Pakistan on their long-running dispute over the Himalayan region of Kashmir was showing progress. Singh also praised Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, saying that without his "personal involvement," many confidence-building measures, including the resumption of a bus link between the two zones of Kashmir after a gap of almost 60 years, would not have been possible. - Iran-India gas project in political wing: FCCI Sources at the Federation Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FCCI) said Iran India gas pipeline project is now in the political plane. "Given the sensitive nature of the project, nothing concrete could be said now," said Ambika Sharma, an FCCI senior director. FCCI, however, is optimistic about the increasing volume of trade between India and Iran. Iran, they said, had expressed desire that New Delhi and Tehran should take mutual interests in participating in each other's trade fair. Iran has also participated sometime back in a trade exhibition in Mumbai. Iran-India trade right now covers areas of textiles, power, and pharmaceuticals. Manjeet Kaur, deputy director of FCCI said Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd has taken interest in Iran as a destination of investment. During the first meeting of Iran-India Business Promotion Core Group held on May 17, 2002, it was decided that India could take a lead in drugs and pharmaceuticals, textile sector, auto parts, auto industry. During his speech during the last visit of India by Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, Onkar Kanwar, FCCI president, had gone a step further and suggested India-Iran trade and commercial interaction should be extended to biotechnology, nano-technology, and software-driven entertainment. Manjeet Singh said Iran-India trade ties are of a very different order as it is paid very high priority by both governments. FICCI is also helping grow India's trade and commercial ties with other countries in the region apart from Iran. Oman, Syria, and even Iraq are the other countries, where the Indian companies are actively pursuing their respective profit targets. Iran-India gas pipeline will be realized by 2010: Indian official India's Petroleum and Natural Gas Secretary S.C. Tripathi said the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline will be realized by 2010, reports IRNA's correspondent. Tripathi made this known while addressing the Managing Committee meeting of the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) in New Delhi Friday. "Our internal estimates about the project are that it will take another 3 years to visualize the project by involving the representatives of Iran, Pakistan and India. One year will be spent on hard negotiations and still another year will be required to obtain financial closures for the proposed project," said Tripathi. The Petroleum Secretary dismissed the skepticism about the project on security ground, strongly arguing that Iran will get higher price for its gas through the execution of this project while Pakistan will be supplied gas at much lower price and India's national interest would be better served in more significant manner by taking off this project because the gas the country will get will be at cheaper rates. Tripathi said a bill would be introduced in the Parliament in the coming monsoon session for creating a regulatory mechanism for petroleum products and gas. PIN/IRNA