New Delhi, January 28
After expressing reservations to India’s gas pipeline project with Iran, the US has “strongly opposed” New Delhi’s decision to invest in oil and gas projects in Syria and asked it to reconsider it.
The US, in an Aide Memoire, cited two UN Security Council Resolutions 1636 and 1644 mandating complete cooperation by the Syrian government with the UN probe into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, while opposing Indian investment there.
The note talked about the moves by the Indian companies, along with those of China, to invest $573 million (Rs 2,600 crore approximately) in Syrian oil and gas fields.
ONGC Videsh and China National Petroleum Company bought 37 per cent stakes in Al Furat oil and gas fields.
When contacted, US Embassy spokesman David Kennedy said the American “views” were expressed as part of overall dialogue between the two countries witnessing growing and deepening relations.
Mr Kennedy said the US views on Syria were well known — that the country is on the “wrong side of history and Middle East. So there should be no economic cooperation with that country till it improves its behaviour.”
— PTI
