Qatar-Pakistan LNG ‘deal’ to be worth $2bn per year: envoy

Ambassador Syed Hassan Raza: “The pace of negotiations has increased in the last 7-8 months. The Qatari side has already sent its technical delegation to Pakistan and our experts have met them”By Salman Siddiqui/Staff ReporterThe Qatar-Pakistan LNG deal which is currently being negotiated by the two countries will be to the tune of $2bn per annum, “if successfully concluded hopefully by the end of this year”,  outgoing Pakistani Ambassador Syed Hassan Raza has said.Raza, a career diplomat, who has been assigned by the government of Pakistan as High Commissioner to Malaysia, told Gulf Times that the ‘pace of negotiations’ for the LNG deal has gathered momentum over the last eight months. “The pace of negotiations has increased in the last 7-8 months. The Qatari side has already sent its technical delegation to Pakistan and our experts have met them. Both sides are now working out the details of the contract so that there is complete transparency in the deal,” he said, adding that ‘hopefully, by the end of this year,’ something concrete would come out. Also, Pakistan’s seriousness could be gauged from the fact that it was already building its own LNG terminals, one of which is expected to be completed in the second half of this year. “Qatar will gain a lot from this export of LNG to Pakistan. We need on a sustained basis a regular supply that would be annually worth more than $2bn,” he said. He was glad that ‘the Qatari friends’ were also seriously considering to reciprocate with investments in Pakistan to correct the imbalance in trade that would result out of the LNG deal.At the moment the overall trade between Pakistan and Qatar is less than $350mn.“We recently had very extensive exchanges about how Qatar could take advantage in our energy sector. We discussed joint ventures with Pakistani companies for downstream refinery and petrochemical projects….there is also a great opportunity for independent power plants,” he added.The envoy also revealed that Qatar’s telecom major Ooredoo was showing interest in participating in the 3G auction set to take place in Pakistan.Recently, the ministers of IT and telecom from both countries met in Qatar. “Our reading is that Qatar will be eagerly participating in the forthcoming 3G auction in Pakistan.”Ooredoo already has a presence in Pakistan through one of its companies called ‘wi-tribe’.According to current figures, there are about 100,000 Pakistanis in Qatar. Raza said that there was a general improvement in the issuance of visas to Pakistanis. “We have estimates that around 3,500 visas were issued last year to Pakistanis, which include skilled workers and professionals in all fields.”Giving details of his farewell visit, he said that without his even asking, HH the Emir assured him that the number of Pakistanis would increase in Qatar in the coming years. He expressed satisfaction that Pakistan - Qatar relations were going very well in every direction, especially in the last one year. “Since the change in government in Pakistan, the current leadership is making all efforts to reach out to Qatar and take the relationship to new heights,” he said. “I had a relatively short tenure in Doha, but I must say I was able to set certain parameters which are going to give direction to my successor and to this mission to develop further relations with Qatar. In particular, I have focused my energies in developing good networks with the private sector in Qatar and making the private sector aware about the opportunities in Pakistan; I would say that my modest achievement was reaching out to the Pakistani community living in Qatar, whom I consider a great asset for our country. I had several interactions with them through hosting open houses regularly at the embassy.”Ambassador Syed Hassan Raza was posted to Qatar in April 2013.