Another foreign policy shift

Another foreign policy shift

Dr. Jassim Taqui

In yet another U-turn, the government has decided to divert its import of oil and LNG from Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Kuwait to Azerbaijan and other Central Asian Republics. Nobody knows what would be the fate of LNG deal signed with Qatar.

Interestingly, the prime minister had allowed the Ministry of Petroleum to negotiate with energy companies of different countries including those of Azerbaijan inter-governmental agreements.

During negotiations, Pakistan and Azerbaijan agreed to an inter-governmental draft agreement, which was also cleared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Law and Justice Division from political and legal points of view respectively. This smells kickbacks. In a recent tender, Italian firm Eni quoted the lowest price for LNG supply to Pakistan but the government ignored this offer without giving any reason for such an act.

The policy of signing the inter-governmental agreement for cooperation in the area of energy and investment is at variance with the National Action Plan(NAP) agreed unanimously by all political parties following the Army Public School massacre of 16h December 2014. The NAP advocates transparency, institutions building, and fighting corruption. Ironically, Federal and Provincial governments have thus far failed to implement NAP citing 18^thAmendment of the Constitution.

The agreement with Azerbaijan will allow the two countries to enter into multibillion-dollar arrangements for trading in oil and gas without going through the bidding process.