Pakistan to continue the gas-pipeline project with Iran – Hina Rabbani Khar

Pakistan to continue the gas-pipeline project with Iran – Hina Rabbani Khar

Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Hina Rabbani Khar has vowed that Iran and Pakistan will complete the gas-pipeline project by 2014 and the US sanctions on Iran are not going to hamper the all-important venture.

Pakistan is currently facing a massive energy crisis and it has badly hurt the industry of the country. Iran has offered its assistance to Pakistan and the gas-pipeline project is underway at the moment.

On the other hand, Iran is having poor relations with the world powers and especially the US after the report of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which claims that Iran is looking to use its nuclear program for aggressive purposes. Since then,
US and its allies have applied a number of economic sanctions on Iran and President Barrack Obama claimed last week that US will destroy Iran’s economy.

However, Pakistan is not ready to sacrifice the energy project with Iran and the foreign minister feels that the economic sanctions on Iran do not apply to the energy assistance between the two countries.   

Khar said, "We are working to complete the project by 2014. We believe that this project is beyond the scope of relevant UN resolutions which we are obliged to comply with like all other member states.”

Pakistan has been a major ally of America since the so-called war on terror but a sequence of events in last couple of years have urged it to rethink its foreign policy.

Rabbani added that Pakistan is looking to have better relations with Russia as it is a major player in the region. She further stated that it is about time that the South Asian countries start to invest more money for the betterment of their people instead
of purchasing arms to use against one another.  

"Pakistan-Russia relations are significantly improving. We are trying to expand the scope of relations. I think it is important that all countries in the region should be mindful of the fact that an arms race is in no one’s interest. This region is suffering
from poverty and disease. It is important we focus on economic development. Millions of people are still living below the proverbial poverty line. All countries should make conscious efforts to avoid an arm race," the foreign minister feels.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=10712

Posted by Yasir Hashmi on Jan 27 2012. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry