2023-08-07 14:23:05
Pakistan suspended the construction of a gas pipeline with Iran, which both countries agreed to in 1995, until the international sanctions promoted by the United States are lifted, Pakistani Deputy Energy Minister Musadik Malik told EFE on Monday.
“Currently the project is stalled by international sanctions with Iran and we have been forced to put it on hold,” Malik said, without specifying when he expects to resume the project.
The minister indicated last Friday, during a speech before the Lower House of the Pakistani Parliament, that the Asian country issued a notification of “Force Majeure and Justifying Event” due to factors external to Iran to suspend its obligation to build the gas pipeline.
According to Islamabad, international sanctions justify that the country has not started work on this 2,700-kilometre gas pipeline partially financed by China, and which Iran has already completed on its part.
Pakistan thus hopes to get rid of the fine associated with its decision to suspend the pipeline, although Malik himself revealed that Iran disputed the validity of the neighboring country’s argument, which might see the two countries face off in a court of arbitration.
“The exact amount of the penalty, if any, is subject to the outcome of the arbitration,” Malik said.
Last week, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said during a three-day visit to Islamabad that the completion of the project would serve the national interests of both countries as they seek to boost their bilateral trade to $5 billion in the next few years. next five years, from the current 2,000 million dollars.
Despite the fact that the talks between the two neighbors on the construction of a gas pipeline began almost thirty years ago, the complex situation in the region has made it almost impossible for Iran to carry out the project.
The works on the Pakistani part began in 2013 with the hope that it would be operational in 2017, but were suspended in 2015.
Both countries, however, launched other energy projects, such as the 100 MW electricity transmission line inaugurated last May by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
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