'Japan government should help to overcome energy crisis'

Senior Minister Punjab, Raja Riaz Ahmad said that Pakistan and Japan are two brotherly countries who are bound in the bond of bilateral friendship and brotherhood since long. Japan government should help to overcome the energy crisis in Pakistan by its proactive support and technical assistance.
He was talking to the Ambassador of Japan, H.E Chihiro Atsumi at his residence, here on Wednesday. Provincial Minister for Sports and Culture Dr Tanveer-ul-Islam, Aamir H. Shirazi of Honda Atlas Pakistan and First Secretary (Political Section) Katsunori Ashida (Nori) were also present on the occasion.
Briefing the Japanese Ambassador about various features of Punjab, its economy and the cultural diversifications, Raja Riaz said that Punjab is the grain house of the whole country as it provides for 80 percent wheat to the country. Water is the lynchpin of the Punjab agriculture, which is mainly irrigated through about 23 thousand km long canals and distributaries infrastructure. But unfortunately, he added, Indian government in violation of Indus Basin Treaty built dams in the Indian held Kashmir to illegally block the Pakistani share of water. This situation has created a very critical situation for the Pakistani agriculture sector as we are already facing energy and water crises, he maintained.
He further said that because of the water paucity, in future, water would be as precious as oil is today. Pakistan government is also facing the terrorism but the President and the Prime Minister of Pakistan are working in unison to improve the situation. He hoped that Japan government will come up to help Pakistan get rid of the energy crisis.
He said that Punjab has further opportunities of foreign investment and Japanese investors should boldly invest. Maintaining that PPP-PML (N) coalition is working to improve the common man conditions, he added that President Zardari wants this coalition to continue in Punjab.
On the occasion, Japanese Ambassador also expressed his views and told that Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) is collaborating with the Irrigation Department to rehabilitate and improve the irrigation infrastructure.