Sartaj Aziz: Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline Project Not Abandoned

(FNA)- Advisor to Pakistani Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said that Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project has not been abandoned.

Aziz said that Islamabad is determined to complete its share of a multi-billion-dollar pipeline project that is due to take natural gas from Iran to Pakistan, Dunya news reported.

On Sunday, the Iranian oil ministry announced that a Pakistani energy delegation is slated to pay a visit to Iran in the near future to discuss expediting the implementation of the IP pipeline.

The ministry noted that Tehran and Islamabad have close cooperation to accomplish the IP gas pipeline despite their differences in this regard.

Last month, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Pakistani counterpart Hanna Rabbani called on relevant officials to do their best to remove the existing barriers to the expedition of the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project.

In a meeting in New York, the two sides pointed out that more delay in implementation of the pipeline in Pakistani soil is not economic, and vowed to coordinate efforts to make the fruitful project operational in near future.

Iran wishes to export its natural gas to Pakistan, India and China through the pipeline.

Iran has already built its 900-kilometer share of the pipeline on its own soil and is waiting for the 700-kilometer Pakistani side of the pipeline to be built.

Iran and Pakistan signed an agreement over the construction of a gas pipeline in 1995. Later, Iran made a proposal to extend the pipeline from Pakistan into India. In February 1999, an accord between Iran and India was signed.

But due to the US pressure, India withdrew from the project in 2009.