Iranian Natgas Pipeline to Pakistan to be Completed Next Year

Iran’s Foreign Minister Akbar Salehi told Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani that the Iranian part of the Iran-Pakistan natural gas pipeline is scheduled for completion in 2012. A second project scheduled for completion next year is Pakistan’s import of 1,000 megawatts of electricity per day from Iran.

Foreign Minister Salehi added that Iran could begin immediate electricity exports if it could be connected with Pakistan’s electrical grid.

Prime Minister Gilani said that Pakistan had determined to improve relations with neighboring countries because if a nation had good relations with countries along its borders then it did not need support from countries situated far beyond, telling reporters, "It is in pursuance of this paradigm shift that Pakistan has been reaching out to its neighboring countries such as Iran, Afghanistan, India, China, Russia and the Central Asian Republics to improve its relations in qualitative terms, and the response has been extremely encouraging," Pakistan’s The News Online newspaper reported.

In reply Foreign Minister Salehi said that Iran was ready to help Pakistan in every way because Iran was both a reliable friend and a neighbor to Pakistan and considered Pakistan's stability, security and prosperity as equal to its own concerns over national security, stability and prosperity.

By. Charles Kennedy, Deputy Editor OilPrice.com