Barter Trade with Iran

[Crusher]

Iran always plays on wrong pitch and on the wrong side. I am not sure what they want to prove. They have been caught red handed so many times. For example, Baloch insurgent groups, Uzair baloch and RAW agents active in Iran planning to destabilize Pakistan.
They need to stop allowing India/Raw to use their territory to launch attack using Baloch insurgent groups against Pakistan.

Baloch terrorist groups.

 

[FuturePAF]

There is no electricity shortage in Pakistan now and a quite a few projects are near completion so 1000's of MW will be added still I would welcome cheap electricity from Iran but security comes first. They cannot keep cosying up with India and letting their land used against Pakistan. They have to come clean.

That is the key part; The Chinese build Power plants IN Iran; to supply neighboring nations with cheap electricity. NO oil or gas has to leave Iran. In Pakistan's case; the power stations (Chinese built and owned) could be near Chabahar and a 150-200 km long high voltage power line (Chinese built and owned) runs to Gwadar. The oil storage infrastructure is already there in Chabahar, it just needs to be sent to new power plants.

China buys oil/gas from Iran to power the power plants and Pakistan buys electricity from China. Gwadar's industrial parks can be built on this cheap electricity, and the rail link through Iran and Turkey would allow products made in especially Gwadar to be quickly transported to and sold in Europe. Iran can be paid, via the Chinese electricity company, with food stuffs and industrial products. A power line can also be stretched from Gwadar to the national Grid via a high voltage power line to Karachi, and allow cheap electricity to let Pakistan's industrial sector grow. Where other nations, suffering under higher energy import costs, would be stalling, Pakistan could be utilizing its demographic dividend to the max. Iranian-Pakistan cooperation could also lead to some consensus on stabilizing Afghanistan, but that a topic for another thread.

In the end, This is a decision the government will have to make. This was just a thought for them to consider, especially after they took the trouble to go to Iran and publicly mention these kinds of desires.

P.S. Should the current Iranian regime fall, then this infrastructure would not be a concern for any other nation. conversely, it would be a way to integrate Iran into other regional economies, and provide the new government with a stable income stream, and diversify their economy. In the mean time, Gwadar will have been built up, and the years of rail transport and barter trade could have created loyal customers along the route to Pakistani products.

 

[Khanate]

A step towards the trilateral China-Pakistan-Iran nexus. I expect financial integration and coordination to increase in the future.

 

[jupiter2007]

A step towards the trilateral China-Pakistan-Iran nexus. I expect financial integration and coordination to increase in the future.

Iran need to pick a side. They can not play both sides of the fence.

 

[FuturePAF]

Iran need to pick a side. They can not play both sides of the fence.

With the global pressure increasing, Iran needs to rebuild ties with neighbors, especially immediate neighbors it is to survive. The Gwadar-Chabahar power plant and rail option leverages their resources to support a rising power (China) and mend ties with neighbors like Pakistan. While oil and gas exports to India maybe larger now then to Pakistan, the potential future of Gwadar could be laid out for them, so that Pakistan can pull them out of India's orbit and into Pakistan/China's instead.

They have a lot more to gain by being a constructive neighbor then a destabilizing one. Economics are key to their survival not just as a regime, but as a nation state. Integrating themselves between China and Europe has worked for them in the days of the Silk road. When the Silk road is at their doorstep once again, they need to lay out the Persian rugs, and think of this line from Rumi; "Be grateful for whatever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond".