July 12, 2006	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 15, 1427

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WASHINGTON, July 11: Pakistan has informed the US of its need to develop nuclear technology as a source of energy because it cannot afford to depend on other expensive sources, Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri said.

Briefing Pakistani journalists on his meetings in Washington, Mr Kasuri said Pakistan needed a total of 162,000mw of energy to meet its needs and intended to produce 8,800mw from nuclear sources.

The foreign minister said that while Pakistan had kept the US informed of its need for nuclear energy “we are looking at other sources” to fulfil it.

He did not specify the sources but in the past Pakistan had acquired civil nuclear reactors from China.

Mr Kasuri said Pakistan had already acquired a 300mw civil nuclear reactor and would soon be getting a 600mw reactor, but refused to name the supplier. Pakistan also had two functioning reactors of 300mw each, while two more of the same capacities were under construction.

He said Pakistan recently reassessed its sources of natural gas and realized that its present reservoir would support the country for only 10-15 years and not 30-40 years as previously thought. Similarly, Pakistan’s energy bill had already risen by 50 per cent last year, even before the current hike in oil prices and it could not afford to continue its dependence on imported oil, he added.

“We were forced to do a serious rethinking of our energy policy,” he said, while commenting on the impact of the international energy crisis on Pakistan. “We are very seriously thinking of developing nuclear energy because it is much cheaper and also because we already have the capability of producing nuclear energy,” said Mr Kasuri.

Pakistan, he said, was also developing other sources of energy such as coal and hydel.

F-16 AIRCRAFT DEAL: Mr Kasuri said Pakistan would buy 66 new and old models of the F-16 fighter jets from the US under a self-financing, $5 billion package.

The package included 36 new F-16 fighter jets and ammunition. Pakistan would get 18 jets at present and the rest later. Besides the 36 new aircraft, Pakistan would also get 26 planes of an earlier version of the F-16s, while Washington would also upgrade the existing PAF fleet of 34 older models of F-16s purchased in the 1980s.

Mr Kasuri said that Pakistan would have to raise finances for the $5 billion package which the Bush administration had offered earlier this month.

The US Congress is expected to begin a debate on the package later this week and will have 30 days to accept of reject the proposed deal.

“In my discussions with US officials and congressmen, I never felt there is any risk of the deal being rejected,” said Mr Kasuri. “The US administration is absolutely sure Congress will endorse the offer.”

He said his meeting with US National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley focused on the F-16 deal and “we discussed various proposals for financing the package”.

Mr Kasuri said the deal was not linked to the $3 billion assistance agreed at a meeting between President Gen Pervez Musharraf and President George W. Bush in Camp David in 2003. “This is a new arrangement.”