The three-day state visit, proposed by the Indian minister, will play a major role in setting a timeframe for the future tripartite talks between Iran, India and Pakistan. India has come back to his old position, renewing his call for international consortiums to operate the seven-billion-dollar project. India wants Iran to deliver its purchased gas along Pakistans frontier. Irans deputy minister of petroleum Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian said recently that Tehran was in favor of a formula requiring each country to account for its share of the gas pipeline. He said that Iran did not need Indias participation for its gas delivery at Pakistan border. “But construction of one or two pipelines cutting through Pakistani territory would need a trilateral agreement,” he added. Last month India held talks with Iran -- which has the world's second-biggest natural gas reserves -- to review progress of the tri-nation agreement. The two countries, along with Pakistan, have said they hope to conclude a deal by June. India has said previously that construction should start in 2007 and the pipeline should be operational by 2011. But the plans have sparked sharp opposition from Washington which accuses Iran of seeking nuclear arms and being a state sponsor of terror. Earlier this month, the U.S. said it was "absolutely opposed" to the pipeline. Under its Iran-Libya Sanctions Act, Washington has barred U.S. companies from investing in Iran's oil and gas industry. It has said foreign companies investing over 25 million dollars in the sector would be denied business opportunities in the United States. Managing-Director of the National Iranian Gas Exports Company Roknoddin Javadi has said that all proposals on the table have to be examined. “We have to find out how the projects are practical. We have to understand the advantages or disadvantages of each option,” he said. “Any decision is based on our trilateral agreement and we have to minimize risks,” he added. Javadi said the best option was for each country to construct its slice of the project. “We prefer to build our pipeline to Pakistan and other build their own,” he said.