Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Monday called for equal opportunities for Pakistan to meet energy needs through civil nuclear technology transfer.
Inaugurating an energy conference here, Aziz expressed Pakistan 's determination to meet its energy requirements from all available resources including nuclear energy.
The prime minister said every country has the right to develop and use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes under the appropriate safeguards, adding that the International Atomic Energy Agency is doing a fine job by monitoring nuclear energy technology in the world.
He said there is a need to be a level playing field for all countries to have access to nuclear technology without any discrimination.
Referring to the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) trans- border gas pipeline project, Aziz said the project is at an advanced stage of negotiations.
"We are confident that this project will be launched in the near future," he said.
"Similarly, we are exploring the possibilities of a pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan through Afghanistan, which could be extended onward to India," Aziz added.
He said in Pakistan the energy requirement is increasing from 8 percent to 12 percent annually and Pakistan is fulfilling its 75 percent energy requirements from the domestic resources.
Aziz said Pakistan needs to expand and diversify in the next 25 years its energy needs, adding that Pakistan has hydel, gas, coal resources and is pursuing nuclear energy to maximize utilization of indigenous resources.
Source: Xinhua
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