WASHINGTON, Aug 20: A 48-member delegation of US investors will visit Pakistan next month to look for investment opportunities in the energy sector.

This was conveyed by US officials to a Pakistani delegation that participated in an energy conference in Washington this week to explore various options for meeting the growing energy needs of South Asia.

India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal also participated in this conference.

Organisers of the conference, US Energy Council and US Agency for International Aid, emphasised the need for interaction among South Asian nations to deal with the energy affairs.

During the conference, US officials also tried to dissuade Pakistan and India from involving in the $7 billion gas pipeline connecting them via Iran, and advocated the ADB-funded Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan gas pipeline and its possible extension to India.

The US delegates suggested that making Afghanistan a transit would bring a positive change to the South and Central Asian regions, preventing the emergence of another Taleban-like force.

“Besides promoting the South and Central Asian energy corridor, the Americans also advised us to focus on developing alternative sources of energy,” said Parliamentary Secretary for Cabinet Division Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, who represented Pakistan at the conference along with Senator Abdul Malik Qadri, Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Resources.

Dr Awan felt that the US focus had shifted away from Pakistan to Afghanistan and Central Asia. “Even the Afghans had a strange, dismissive attitude towards Pakistan,” she complained.

The Pakistani delegation emphasised the need for shifting from thermal to hydel energy for power generation and said that Pakistan could not continue to depend on an expensive commodity like oil for producing electricity.

“From October 2005 to June 2006, Pakistan spent more than Rs68 billion on power subsidies, and we told the conference that we cannot afford to continue like this for long,” Dr Awan said.

Another suggestion was to develop wind and solar energy.

India has built windmills in Rajasthan with the help of USAID, and Pakistan is also seeking similar assistance in Sindh.

One more project discussed at the conference was blending of ethanol with oil to producer a cheaper fuel for vehicles.