Pakistani Commerce Minister Khorram Dastgir Khan said on Monday that Islamabad has not abandoned the Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project and aims to complete it in future.
"After the termination of Western-led sanctions against Iran in near the future, Pakistan will pursue the completion of the project at a rapid pace," Dastgir Khan told Fars News Agency in Islamabad.
He underscored that Pakistan's incumbent government is resolved to strengthen relations with Tehran particularly in the fields of commerce and energy.
In July 2015, a high-ranking Iranian parliamentary delegation traveled to Pakistan to follow up Tehran-Islamabad cooperation on the construction of Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project.
Mohammad Hassan Asafari, a member of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission that sent the delegation to Islamabad, discussed energy ties, specially the gas pipeline project, with Pakistani Senator Nosrat Sadeq.
Senator Sadeq assured the Iranian side that his country will expedite the construction of the Pakistani sector of the pipeline, specially now that Iran and the world powers have struck a final deal.
In January, Tehran cautioned Islamabad over falling behind the schedule in fulfilling its obligations in a multibillion-dollar pipeline project that is to take natural gas from Iran to Pakistan.
"Under a contract signed between Iran and Pakistan, the latter had to deliver its commitments by starting import of Iran's gas supplies in December 2014, but it seems unlikely for Pakistan to take any (serious) measure before the end of 2015," Managing Director of National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) Hamidreza Araqi told a press conference in Tehran.
He further rejected rumors that Iran has decided not to fine Islamabad for its long delay in completing the project, and stressed that the terms of the contract about the fines that Pakistan should pay in case it delays fulfilling its undertakings are still valid and enforceable.
Under the Gas Sales Purchase Agreement signed with Iran by the outgoing PPP government in 2009, the first flow of gas to Pakistan should have started by Dec. 31, 2014.
Iran and Pakistan officially inaugurated the construction of the border part of the multi-billion-dollar gas pipeline project in March, 2013. Iran has already built 900 kilometers of the pipeline on its own territory and is waiting for the 700-kilometer Pakistani side of the pipeline to be constructed.
The IP pipeline is designed to help Pakistan overcome its growing energy needs at a time when the country of over 180 million people is grappling with serious energy shortages.