BEIJING, July 8 -- Iran and Pakistan have agreed to speed up work on a trans-regional gas pipeline project.

    In Islamabad, the Pakistani oil minister and his Iranian counterpart expressed hope that construction could start next year.

    Iran proposed the nearly 3-thousand kilometer pipeline in 1996, in a bid to take Iranian gas to Pakistan and India. It stalled largely because of Indian security concerns regarding Pakistan.

    But relations between the nuclear rivals have been thawing, and the gas pipeline project now appears to be on its way to become a reality.

    (Source: cctv.com)