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Pak ministers to visit Iran for gas, electricity

Posted on: Thu July 22, 2010

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday said the minister for water and power and the minister for petroleum and natural resources would undertake visits to Iran in the near future to fast track bilateral cooperation in the oil and gas sectors and expedite import of electricity from Iran.

The prime minister expressed these views while talking to Mashallah Shakeri, the ambassador of Iran, who called on him at the Prime Minister s Secretariat here on Wednesday.

The prime minister expressed the hope that the Iranian firm, which has already been given the contract for supplying 100 MW of electricity for Gwadar, would carry out the implementation of the project on a priority basis.

The prime minister said that Pakistan was looking forward to the 18th Session of Joint Economic Commission s meeting with Iran, scheduled for 2nd and 3rd August in Islamabad in which the Iranian side would be led by their Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.

He hoped that the whole gambit of economic cooperation between the two sides will come under discussion during the commission s meeting. He appreciated that Iran would undertake the construction of Noshki-Dalbandin sector of the road, which would eventually be linked with Pakistan-Iran border.

He assured the ambassador that all the bottlenecks relating to this project will be removed on an urgent basis. The prime minister agreed with the ambassador s proposal that chief minister of Balochistan should undertake a visit of Iranian Province of Sistan and exchanges between both the provinces should be strengthened in the future for increased cooperation and coordination on matters of mutual interest.

Ambassador Shakeri thanked the prime minister and the Government of Pakistan for its continued support to him during his tenure of stay in Islamabad and because of which the Iran gas pipeline project could be finalised.

He assured the prime minister that Iran would fully cooperate in early finalisation of import of 1,000 MW of electricity once the feasibility study being undertaken by both sides was completed. He also stated that Balochistan, being the gateway to Iran from Pakistan, was given higher importance and Iran planned development of road and rail links between the two countries.

Courtesy : The News