Thursday, August 26, 2010 - Turkmenistan offered on Wednesday to provide Pakistan with 1000 megawatts of electricity to help Pakistan overcome its power shortages, the Pakistani Express Tribune reported on Thursday.
The offer came on the second day of the two-day second meeting of the intergovernmental Turkmen-Pakistani commission in Islamabad, during which Pakistans Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani conducted negotiations with Turkmen Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov.
Turkmenistan is devising a humanitarian aid package to help Pakistan recover from debilitating floods, and will announce the package when he returns to Ashgabat, Meredov said.
During the diplomatic meeting, Gilani gave his support to the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline and pushed for early completion of the project. The implementation of this project would allow Pakistan to overcome its chronic energy shortages, Gilani added.
Several issues concerning the pipeline need to be resolved quickly, the prime minister said. Financing and a steady supply of gas must be guaranteed. The Afghan security situation also needs to be resolved.
In this vein, Gilani also agreed to attend the December summit meeting of the TAPI project.
The two sides agreed to expand ties in oil and gas, energy, infrastructure, science, technology and education, Pakistans Daily Times reported on Thursday.
In addition to the Pakistani Prime Minister and Turkmen Foreign Minister, the Pakistani Ministers for Petroleum and Natural Resources and Foreign Affairs and Turkmenistans Ambassador to Pakistan also attended the meeting.