A senior Pakistani legislator has emphasized the necessity for the rapid construction of Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project which is expected to carry Iran's gas to the South Asian nation, Press TV reported.
On Wednesday, the opposition leader from Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and member of Pakistan's National Assembly, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, called on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to complete Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project in its scheduled time.
"The previous government of my party had finalized the agreement of import of gas from Iran," Fahim said.
On March 11, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari inaugurated the final construction phase of the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline at the shared border region in Iran's southeastern city of Chabahar, intended to carry natural gas from Iran to its eastern neighbor.
The 2700-kilometer-long pipeline will begin from Iran's Assalouyeh Energy Zone in the south and stretch over 1,100 kilometers through Iran. The joint multi-billion-dollar 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.
On May 20, in telephone conversation with the leader of Pakistan's Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Sharif, Iranian Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi expressed hope Tehran and Islamabad would further improve relations during the new Pakistani government's mandate.
Sharif, for his part, said Pakistan is ready to enhance the level of its relations with Iran and added that the Pakistani government would make serious efforts to achieve this goal.