Islamabad Stresses Full Implementation Of Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline

Islamabad, March 16, IRNA -- Pakistan high-ranking political and military officials in a trilateral meeting on Friday stressed full implementation of Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and the Chief of army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in a trilateral meeting held in Islamabad, called the IP gas pipeline very important to their national interest. They emphasized that no outside pressure should prevent the execution of the IP project. Despite strong opposition from the US and warnings of economic sanctions, Pakistani president and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinijad on Monday officially inaugurated construction work of a delayed $7.5 billion gas pipeline from Iran to Pakistan. The ceremony, which the president’s office described as a ‘big event’, was held in the Iranian border city of Chabahar. Both presidents were accompanied at the ground-breaking by delegations comprising ministers, top officials as well as representatives of several Arab states. “The completion of the pipeline is in the interests of peace, security and progress of the two countries … it will also consolidate the economic, political and security ties of the two nations,” the two presidents said in a joint statement. President Zardari, in his address at the ceremony, regarded the pipeline project as “very important” for Pakistan. Zardari said world peace was correlated with peace in Pakistan, which, he stressed, ˈWas not opposed to or against any other state.ˈ He said the prosperity of Pakistan and Iran was inter-linked and that the former was striving to become self-reliant. He added that the international community was unaware of the problems of the regional countries. Ahmadinejad hailed the fact that work on the new section of the pipeline was going ahead despite US sanctions against Iran’s oil and gas sector imposed over its controversial nuclear program. “This gas pipeline is a sign of show of resistance against domination,” Ahmadinejad said. The Iran-Pakistan pipeline is intended to help Pakistan overcome its mushrooming energy needs at a time when the country is facing increased blackouts and energy shortages. Dubbed the “peace pipeline”, the project has faced repeated delays since it was conceived in the 1990s to connect Iran’s giant South Pars gas field to India via Pakistan. “Pakistan, being an energy deficient country, is hugely suffering both economically and socially,” a foreign office spokesman told a press conference on Thursday. “We are very clear about this project. It is in our national interest to go ahead with this project.ˈ India, which was initially also slated to be part of the project, quit in 2009, citing costs and security issues, a year after it signed a nuclear deal with Washington. Iran has completed 900 km of pipeline on its side of the border and Iranian contractors will also construct the pipeline in Pakistan. Tehran has agreed to lend Islamabad $500 million, or a third of the estimated $1.5 billion cost of the 750 km Pakistani section of the pipeline. The two sides hope the pipeline will be completed in time to start delivery of 21.5 million cubic meters of gas per day to Pakistan by December 2014./end