Pakistan President Visits Iran On Monday For IP Gas Line Ground-breaking

Islamabad, March 11, IRNA – Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari will visit Iran on Monday to join the ground-breaking ceremony of the Iran gas pipeline project, the Petroleum Ministry said on Sunday. The ceremony will be held in the Iranian border city of Chahbahar on Monday in the afternoon, according to details released by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources in Islamabad. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Mr Zardari will jointly inaugurate the construction of the pipeline. President Zardari will be accompanied by a big delegation of ministers, members of parliament, political leaders, senior officials and journalists, officials said. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry said last week that several Heads of State have also been invited. The Foreign Ministry spokesman rejected the impression that Pakistan is in a fix over the project. “We are very clear about this project. It is in our national interest to go ahead with this project,” he said at the weekly briefing on Thursday. He said Pakistan being an energy deficient country, is hugely suffering both economically and socially. To a question about US pressure, the spokesman had stated that Islamabad knows about some concerns but “we expect and hope that all our friends including the US would show more understanding on the issue.” President Zardari also said this month that his energy-starved country will pursue the multi-billion dollar gas pipeline project with Iran despite strong US opposition. Zardariˈs latest statement comes days after the US State Department advised Pakistan to look for other energy options instead of the Iran gas project. Section of the American media has also reported that Washington is likely to slap sanctions on Pakistan if it pushes through with the 7.5 billion US dollar pipeline project with Iran. Pakistani media has reported that Tehran has agreed to provide a 500 million US dollar loan to partially finance construction of the pipeline on the Pakistan side, which will cost 1.5 billion US dollars. Pakistan will shoulder the remaining cost from its own resources. Pakistan and Iranian officials have already agreed to complete the project by mid-2014. Iran has already completed the pipeline in its territory while the laying of 785-km long Pakistani section will start shortly. Pakistan plans to import 21.5 million cubic meters of gas daily from Iran through the pipeline./end