03 January 2004	Saturday	10 Ziqa'ad 1424

ISLAMABAD, Jan 2: Pakistan and Iran have agreed to cooperate for the development of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as vehicular fuel in the two countries and to benefit from each other's experience in this field.

According to an official statement here on Friday, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to this affect was signed in Tehran by the Director General of Hydrocarbon Development Institute of Pakistan (HDIP), Hilal A. Raza and the Managing Director of Iran Fuel Conservation Organization (IFCO), Mehdi Hashemi.

Iran has planned to convert over 1.5 million vehicles on CNG and establish over 500 CNG stations in the next 7 to 8 years whereas Pakistan has progressed in CNG use with 430 CNG stations already operational and 200 in the process of being set up. Around 400,000 vehicles are currently running on CNG in Pakistan.

The Iranian delegation of IFCO had visited Pakistan in June last to see Pakistan's progress in this field. The delegation held an in-depth discussion with HDIP officials.

Under the MoU, both countries agreed to set up a 6-member Joint Standing Committee (JSC) with three members each from Iran and Pakistan to work for transfer of knowledge, technology and information on CNG developments in the two countries.

It will also share each other's experience in the CNG development in the public and private sectors in petrol and diesel substitution, helping in policy formulation, regulation, technical and safety standards, inspection and monitoring.-APP