Pak’s one-GW nuke plant project likely to be finalised during Jiabao’s visit

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan is expecting a major breakthrough regarding the establishment of a one-gigawatt (GW) nuclear power plant during the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao’s three-day visit to Islamabad starting from December 17, official sources have revealed.

According to highly placed government and diplomatic sources, officials of Pakistan and China have been engaged in extensive talks on setting up a nuclear power plant in Pakistan having a capacity of producing 1 GW electricity, The Nation reports.

An Islamabad-based Chinese official also confirmed that there have been discussions between both countries about building such a power plant in Pakistan, in addition to the two 300-megawatt (MW) plants that Chinese companies are expected to build in Chashma.

It is noteworthy that China has already completed the construction of one nuclear power plant of 300MW in Pakistan while another plant of the same capacity is likely to be completed next year.

During Jiabao’s visit, both the sides are expected to finalise the ‘Currency swap agreement’, while Pakistan will stress for making full use of the Pak-China free trade agreement for increasing bilateral trade to 15 billion dollars per year.

Although China has been talking publicly for the past two months about its intention to build at least two more reactors in Pakistan, Chinese officials have not yet specified how they intend to get around the rules that bar the sale of nuclear technology to countries such as Pakistan, that have not signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. (ANI)