Federal Minister for Energy Khurram Dastgir Khan on Tuesday has invited the Japanese government and companies to explore opportunities in Pakistan’s renewable energy (RE) sector.

In a tweet, the Ministry of Energy said that Dastgir, who is in Japan to attend the state funeral of former prime minister Shinzo Abe that was held on Tuesday, met State Minister Nakatani at the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in Tokyo.

“He invited the Japanese government and companies to explore investment opportunities in renewable energy in Pakistan,” said the energy ministry in the tweet.

The development comes as the incumbent government is seeking to enhance the energy mix of renewable resources in power generation to meet the increasing needs of the cash-strapped South Asian country.

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Moreover, the import of energy commodities is burning a hole in the national kitty, especially in the wake of Russia-Ukraine conflict, which has seen prices of gas and coal rising massively, leaving little space for net energy importing countries like Pakistan.

Earlier this month, Dastgir said Pakistan’s future energy landscape will be based upon the utilisation of indigenous renewable sources.

Addressing a ceremony, the federal minister had stated that as per his government’s energy policy, every new electricity generation plant in Pakistan will be set up using domestic sources i.e. hydel, solar, wind and Thar coal.

“The future energy landscape of Pakistan will be based upon these five sources,” he added, while calling for the modernisation of the country’s energy sector.

Dastgir said that the country’s power sector has become the most significant sector for the country’s financial viability and how we present our budgets in the power sector is now the principal hurdle, which we intend to change and transform into a principal facilitator of Pakistan’s economic growth.