Pakistan, Iran sign deal to raise power exchange to 200 MW

Iran and Pakistan have signed a new electricity exchange agreement under which the volume of power traded between the two neighbors will rise to 200 megawatts.

According to Press TV, the signing took place in Tehran on Monday in a ceremony attended by visiting Pakistani Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan and his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Mehrabian.

Mehrabian said the design and execution of the project was carried out in less than nine months, which is a "unique record". Test runs on the line for interconnecting the two countries’ grids have been completed, he added.  

“This modern infrastructure will be officially inaugurated in the new future” by the two countries’ presidents, he said, expressing hope that the agreement will be a prelude to further development of energy cooperation between Iran and Pakistan.

Mehrabian said connecting Iran's electricity grid to neighboring countries primarily improves the stability of the network and establishes an infrastructure for sustainable electricity supply.

“In this regard, measures such as connecting Iran's electricity grid to Turkey, Russia and other neighboring countries have been taken or are being taken,” he added.

Mehrabian touched on the “very positive” economic cooperation which has been forged between Iran and Pakistan under the administration of President Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi, which has seen annual trade between the two neighbors surpass $2 billion.

For his part, Dastgir Khan thanked Iran for the high speed of the implementation of the project, hoping the two countries would move together to a brighter future.

“The lights that turn on in our country are owned to the extensive efforts and cooperation with Iran in the field of electricity,” he said.

Energy cooperation with Iran is one of the special agendas of the Pakistani government, he added.

ME