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The friendly trio: China to build $2 billion Iran- Pakistan 'peace pipeline' (Al Bawaba,
April 13,2015)
China plans to build a pipeline to transport natural gas from Iran to Pakistan in a move to
alleviate the crippling burden of electricity shortage in Pakistan, a report said.
A deal is likely to be signed during the Chinese president’s visit to Islamabad this month,
Pakistani officials were quoted as saying in the Tehran Times report.
Pakistan has been negotiating for months for China to build the Pakistani portion of the pipeline,
which will cost up to $2 billion, according to the report.
We’re building it,” Pakistani Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told The Wall Street
Journal. “The process has started.”
Dubbed the “Peace Pipeline,” its 900-kilometre part from an Iranian gas field is complete and
Pakistan is under pressure to complete its part of the scheme.
Pakistan hasn’t begun construction in light of threatened US sanctions for trading with Iran, the
report said.
This [Iran nuclear agreement] will help us in getting a few things which were coming into the
way of the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline to be cleared and we will move forward,” Pakistan’s
ambassador to Iran, Noor Muhammad Jadmani, was quoted in the report, which cited the official
Iranian news agency Irna.
Pakistan is negotiating with China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau, a subsidiary of Chinese energy
giant China National Petroleum Corporation, to build 700 kilometres of pipeline from the
western Pakistani port of Gwadar to Nawabshah in the southern province of Sindh, where it will
connect to Pakistan’s existing gas-distribution pipeline network.
The cost would be $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion for the pipeline, or $2 billion if an optional
Liquefied Natural Gas terminal at Gwadar is included in the scheme. Under the deal, 85 per cent
of the financing will be provided by a Chinese loan, with Pakistan coming up with the rest.
The remaining 50 miles (80 kilometres) will be built by Pakistan. The pipeline, which would
take two years to build, would eventually supply Pakistan with enough gas to fuel 4,500 M of
electricity generation.
Sialkot’s exporters urged to enhance trade to UAE (Customs Today, April 13,2015)
SIALKOT: Pakistan’s Commercial Attaché to UAE Habib Warraich has urged the Sialkot
exporters to divert their business activities to United Arab Emirates (UAE) for getting the full
trade and export-related advantages in UAE under the investment-friendly atmosphere there.
He stated this while addressing an important meeting to Sialkot exporters and business tycoons
held at Sialkot here on Saturday.
He said that Sialkot exporters have a great potential to explore and capture the international trade
markets of UAE by exporting their diversified and non-diversified best quality export products
including sports goods, surgical instruments, leather and leather products, musical instruments,
gloves, hosiery and martial arts uniforms etc.
Habib Warraich also sought the effective and positive suggestions from Sialkot exporters to
develop bilateral trade ties between Pakistan and UAE, besides, establishing the strong businessto-business contacts between the businessmen of Pakistan and UAE.
He said that the effective trade, export and investment friendly policies of both Pakistan and
UAE could help to open the new vistas of business and socio-economic development in the
region.
He also stressed need of promotion of business-to-business contacts between Sialkot Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (SCCI) and Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) for
facilitating the businessmen.
He said that there was also a dire need of establish an international standard display center of
Sialkot-made export products at UAE and he assured his full cooperation and assistance to
Sialkot exporters, in this regard.
Pakistan’s Commercial Attaché to UAE Habib Warraich revealed that Pakistan’s Ministry of
Commerce (MoC) and Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) were evolving the
effective trade and exports enhancement policies to ensure the early increase in the mutual and
bilateral trade between Pakistan and UAE.
He added that the Pakistani exports to the UAE could be enhanced to $6 billion by ensuring the
proper and effective publicity of the Pakistani export products in UAE as well. He said that the
annual imports of UAE were $100 billion and Pakistan had the share of only 3 percent in UAE
imports.
He said that Indian exporters were sharing as many as 80 percent in total exports to UAE.
Local MNA Ch. Armughan Subhani, MPA Ch Arshad Javaid Warraich, Central Chairman
Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) Ejaz A
Khokhar, President Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) Fazal Jillani, Member
Board of Directors (BoD) Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) Shah Zaman
Khan, Sialkot DCO Nadeem Sarwar and Principal Kh. Muhammad Safdar Medical College
Sialkot (KMSMDS) Prof. Dr. Zafar Ali Chaudhary and other business tycoons attended the
meeting.