Yangon has meanwhile nominated the director general of the energy ministry and managing director of Myanmar Petroleum Corporation its representatives for the working committee and sent the names to Bangladesh energy ministry.

The energy ministry has proposed the names of the Petrobangla director (planning) and managing director of Gas Transmission Company Limited (GTCL) to the Prime Minister's Office for approval them as Bangladesh's representatives.

If Bangladesh and India agree to Myanmar's proposal, the six-member working committee is going to hold its meeting in Yangon to settle policy issues, paving the way for an overland transnational gas pipeline project to transmit Myanmarese gas to India through Bangladesh.

The committee will sit in all the three countries to determine the pipeline route and deal with the ownership and technical issues. It will prepare and submit a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to facilitate the signing of a tripartite agreement by April.

The project of transmitting offshore natural gas of Myanmar to India will involve an international private sector consortium.

At the same time, Dhaka and Delhi are expected to ink a bilateral agreement granting Bangladesh access to the low-cost hydroelectricity of Nepal and Bhutan using India's power grid and a trade corridor to the Himalayan kingdoms through India. The accord will also provide for measures to reduce trade imbalance between the two neighbours.

Earlier in mid-January, State Minister for Energy AKM Mosharraf Hossain on his return from a tri-nation meeting in Yangon said, "Without this bilateral treaty, we'll not sign the trilateral one."