Gilani in China, makes pitch for energy support

Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on Sunday made a strong pitch for China to boost its support to hydropower and civilian nuclear projects in Pakistan, as the country grapples with a growing energy crisis. Mr. Gilani called for setting up an umbrella “Pakistan-China Power Cooperation”, which would include “specialists and entities” in a range of energy fields, in talks with Chinese Executive Vice Premier Li Keqiang, reported the Associated Press of Pakistan. Mr. Gilani also sought to assuage increasing Chinese concerns over terrorism spilling across the border into China’s far-western Xinjiang region, which has seen recent violence, blamed by the regional government there on terrorists trained in camps in Pakistan. Mr. Gilani told the Vice Premier that his government was “committed to fighting terrorism in all its forms”. He was meeting with Mr. Li, who is expected to take over from Premier Wen Jiabao later this year, along the sidelines of the Boao Forum, a three-day government-supported annual conclave – marketed here as “Asia’s Davos” – which takes place in the southern Hainan province. The Pakistani Prime Minister singled out energy cooperation between the two countries as being of particular importance in Sunday’s talks, underscoring Islamabad’s keenness on securing greater Chinese investment in hydropower, and particularly civilian nuclear energy projects, with the U.S. and other countries appearing cold to Pakistani calls for support. He said Pakistan sought Chinese cooperation “in the full gamut of energy” from hydropower and coal to nuclear, describing the recently set up joint energy working group as “an encouraging landmark”. State-run Chinese nuclear energy firms are currently in talks to set up three 1,000 MW nuclear power reactors in Pakistan – two at the Karachi power complex and a fifth reactor at Chashma, where Chinese firms have already built two reactors and are in the process of constructing two more. Last week, Luo Zhaohui, Director General of the Department of Asian Affairs at the Foreign Ministry, said China’s civilian nuclear cooperation was “still going on”. This was despite concerns voiced by some countries that the deals for the third and fourth reactors at Chashma violated rules of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which bars its members from transferring nuclear technology to countries that have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). India was granted a waiver for its cooperation with the U.S. only after undertaking a range of commitments. Mr. Luo, however, said the two countries’ cooperation was subject to IAEA safeguards and in accordance with international law. Mr. Gilani also called for “the early materialisation” of an MoU signed between Pakistan and the China EXIM Bank in 2009 for US$ 700 million credit for building small and medium dams in Pakistan, which has been slow to take off. He also brought up Pakistan’s energy needs in talks with Iranian Vice President Mohammad Javad Mohammadizadeh, who is also attending the Boao Forum. He said Pakistan’s purchase of 1000 MW of electricity from Iran, which is being supplied to the Balochistan province, would help the “energy shortage”.