ISLAMABAD, May 7: The World Bank is persuading Pakistan to import electricity and gas from Central Asian states to attract international financial support as an alternative to a gas pipeline from Iran, it is learnt.

On the initiative of the World Bank, the energy ministers of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are meeting here on Monday to discuss electricity trade among them. Besides the energy ministers, deputy prime minister of Tajikistan Asadullo Gulmov is also attending the meeting.

The two-day conference of Central Asia-South Asia electricity trade would also be attended by the officials of the World Bank, its commercial investment arm International Finance Commission, Islamic Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank to brain-storm on technical and financial aspects of the regional power trade. Federal Minister Liaqat Ali Jatoi would preside over the two-day conference.

Informed sources told Dawn on Sunday that the World Bank has been promoting the idea of regional energy grid at the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) level for a long time and has now reinvigorated the campaign to initially link energy resources of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan with Pakistan through Afghanistan and later to India.

Given the availability of vast hydel energy resources in the Central Asia particularly in the close proximity of Afghanistan and rising demand in Pakistan and India which may like to adopt the concept at a later stage, the possibility of international financial support would be forthcoming subject to improvement of security situation in Afghanistan where the United States would provide a lot of support, the sources said.

The United States had declined to provide any support to Pakistan for nuclear energy and opposed gas import from Iran but had promised to assist Islamabad in alternate sources of energy to meet its growing energy needs.

The sources said Pakistan had proposed to invite Iran to participate in the conference given its importance in the energy resources but a consensus could not be achieved on the subject.

The sources said the conference is expected to approve launching of feasibility studies for the transmission line from the Central Asia to Pakistan for importing 2000-3000 mw of electricity.

The presence of major multilateral financial institutions like the IFC, the ADB and the IDB has been ensured by the World Bank to get financial commitments to the project at the very beginning to cost estimation for fast track implementation, the sources said.

The World Bank, said the sources, was convincing Pakistan that it may attract western criticism for pursuing a major gas import project with Iran and lack financial support as the major multilateral would stay away from a risky and legally difficult investment owing to US opposition.

As an alternate energy supply chain from Central Asian region, on the other hand, would not only get financial and political support from the West and the US, it would also be seen as a positive move to encourage land-locked central Asian states to start trade through Pakistani ports.

The sources said Pakistan has been discussing on bilateral basis with Central Asian republics for energy cooperation and it would be for the first time that a larger perspective of the regional energy import would get special importance.

Pakistan and Tajikistan had already signed a memorandum of understanding last year and had even launched a feasibility study through National Engineering Services of Pakistan (Nespak) to import 1000-mw of hydropower from Tajikistan. The electricity import from Tajikistan has initially been found technically feasible.