ISLAMABAD, 14 March 2006 — Pakistan and the United States agreed yesterday to enhance cooperation in energy sector but Washington made it clear it practically disapproved of Pak-Iran gas pipeline project.
Barring nuclear power, or a gas pipeline from Iran, the United States wants to help Pakistan develop potential energy sources, US Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman said.
Sent to Pakistan by President George W. Bush to discuss what can be done to cover its future needs, Bodman listed everything from coal, and gas pipelines — except from Iran — to renewable sources such as cellulose-based ethanol and wind or solar energy.
“I’ve just listed a long list of potential sources of energy that this country would have an interest in, should have, apparently does have an interest in, and that’s what I came prepared to talk about,” Bodman told journalists.
“And the field of cooperation with respect to civil nuclear work is not on the list.” When he was in Islamabad on March 4, Bush told President Pervez Musharraf it was too soon to talk of Pakistan getting a similar deal to one given to India, granting access to US know-how for its civilian nuclear program.
Bodman’s visit to Islamabad came as Indian and Pakistani energy officials gathered in Tehran to discuss a $7 billion gas pipeline project from Iran to India, via Pakistan.
The White House last week poured cold water on the project due to concerns about Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and Bodman said there was no way the United States would encourage any country seeking a contractual agreement with Iran.
Bodman “practically” disapproved the proposed multi-billion dollars gas pipeline project that will bring the fuel from Iran to Pakistan. “We do not approve this project as Iran is developing nuclear weapons,” he said.
Instead he said Pakistan should quickly pursue alternative potential gas pipeline projects with Turkmenistan and Qatar.
Bodman met Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri at the start of a weeklong trip that will also take him to Russia, Hungary and Kazakhstan.
He described his visit as an example of the priority the United States gave to its strategic relationship with Pakistan.
The keystone of the US-Pakistani relationship remains a common war on terrorism, including against militant groups once covertly supported by the Pakistani military.
Bodman said he discussed what needed to be done to improve Pakistan as a destination for investment in its infrastructure, while adding that his department had no budget to help Pakistan. “This is an effort that will have to be led by the private sector, the private sector here in Pakistan as well as the private sector in our country,” Bodman said.
