Muhammad Reza Bak Sehraei, acting Consul General of Iran in Karachi, has urged the newly-elected PML-N government to undertake serious efforts to complete the Pak-Iran Gas Pipeline project. Talking to newsmen at Karachi Press Club (KPC) here on Monday, he said that international sanctions did not restrict Pakistan from implementation on this mega project, which was initiated by the previous government.
He explained that there were two types of sanctions on Iran - international and bilateral - imposed by the US and the EU. "The international sanctions do not hamper development of Pak-Iran Gas pipeline project," he opined. He said that Pakistan was facing serious energy crisis and the project would resolve the issue, which is directly affecting the economic growth.
"This mega projection is necessary for the economic development of both countries as the both countries are facing several problems on trade and industry side," he said. "We hope that newly elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will take interest to complete this project in the larger interest of the both countries," he added. Talking about the financing issues, he said that Iran had already offered to arrange maximum financing for the project and still it was willing to initiate this mega project as per plan.
To a question regarding lower trade volume between the two neighbouring countries, he said that sanctions had directly hurt bilateral trade between Pakistan and Iran as several local and international banks were not providing financial services for trading activities. On the occasion, President KPC Imtiaz Khan Faran, Vice-President Saeed Sarbazi, Secretary Aamir Latif and others were also present.