TEHRAN: A Pakistani delegation will visit Iran to finalise the agreements on gas pipeline project made during the Iranian president’s visit to Pakistan.
National Iranian Gas Exports Company (NIGEC) Managing Director Alireza Kameli said that the initial agreements were made over negotiations between the Iranian petroleum minister and Pakistani officials during a recent visit by Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani and some of his cabinet members to Islamabad.
“In the negotiations, it had been agreed that Pakistan’s delegation would visit Iran soon to finalise the agreements, so that the export of Iranian gas to Pakistan could begin,” IRNA quoted the official as saying. On Saturday, the Iranian president told reporters in Islamabad that a pipeline had already been completed on the Iranian side.
Rouhani said this had put the Islamic Republic in a position to provide its southeastern neighbour with natural gas within only a few months.
While Iran has completed its part of the project with a total investment of over $2 billion, Pakistan has fallen short of the target to take delivery of the gas, initially scheduled for 2014. The joint project, launched in 2010, is aimed at laying down 1,800 kilometres (over 1,100 miles) long pipeline from Iran to Pakistan. Iran plans to deliver 21.5 mcm/d of gas to Pakistan through the project.
Trade between Pakistan and Iran fell to $432 million in 2010-11 from $1.32 billion in 2008-09, according to the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan.
