ISLAMABAD, Nov 17: Iran’s Ambassador to Pakistan Masha’Allah Shakeri said on Saturday that Iran and Pakistan were close to finalising a deal for a gas pipeline project.
“We would like the project to be operational as soon as possible,” he told a press conference here.
He said a high-level delegation of Iran would visit Pakistan next week to hold talks to remove some minor irritants to finalize the deal.
He said both Pakistan and Iran would go ahead with the project, originally designed to be a trilateral venture, if India opted to stay away. He expressed the hope that India would join the project.He said a bilateral project for transportation of gas to Pakistan could also be economically viable.
The Iranian ambassador said that Tehran had abundant reserves of natural gas which could meet Pakistan’s requirements for a long time.
Asked if Pakistan would have a right to transit the gas to a third country under the agreement, he replied in the affirmative, but said that the consent of Iran would be required for the purpose.
The Iranian ambassador said that his country was ready to sell electricity on cheaper rates to Pakistan, adding that initially Iran could supply up to 1100 megawatts of electricity to Pakistan.
NUCLEAR PROGRAMME: In reply to a question about weapons of mass destruction, the Iranian ambassador said that weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear arms, had no place in Iran’s defence doctrine and stressed that its nuclear programme being carried out under the supervision of the IAEA was solely for peaceful purposes.
He said that being one of the victims of these weapons, Iran was the first country to propose a plan for making the Middle East a nuclear weapons free zone.
