Hameed Ansari couldn't have better timed his first visit abroad after becoming Vice-President. A month after his Turkmenistan visit, which began on Friday, India could formally become a member of the proposed gas pipeline running through Afghanistan and Pakistan before reaching Fazilka on the Indian side. Earlier this month, project sponsor Asian Development Bank informed all four countries that a crucial meeting on Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline would now be held from April 21-24. The meeting was postponed from February 11-14 after a member-nation expressed reservations about the project economics. In accordance with the confirmation received from the respective governments, the Technical Working Group meeting and the 10th Steering Committee Meeting of ministers would be held in Islamabad during those dates. The meeting of the ministers would be a watershed event as India (so far an observer) plans to formally join the project, a step considered crucial for the pipeline's economics. It would also see all four signing the principal Heads of Agreement and finalising the Gas Pipeline Framework Agreement to formalise the path ahead. In February, ADB sought consent of the four nations to shift the 10th Steering Committee Meeting to April to provide time for a "quick update' of the feasibility report. "Preparations have been made by the countries for the proposed agenda. However, it was pointed out that one of the inputs