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| Regional Cooperation in the Energy Sector: India and Pakistan |
| Arshad H. Abbasi, Fareeha Mehmood, Ayesha Wasti, Maha Kamal, and Zohra Fatima* |
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| Energy is vital in today’s world economy and the progress of
a nation depends directly on the availability of sufficient and affordable
energy resources. Energy resources and supply have become a serious issue for
some developing countries, as energy demand has been growing around the world
at an exponential rate coupled by a far less increase in energy supply.
Additionally many countries rely largely on non-environment friendly energy
resources like coal, which has serious impact on an already changing climate.
Therefore countries, need to emphasise regional cooperation to diversify their
energy mix, particularly South Asia, as a region, can benefit greatly by
collaborating on unconventional energy projects.
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objective of this paper is to suggest concrete solutions for improving regional
cooperation at governmental level. The key areas of cooperation that this paper
focuses on include the diversification of fuel mix for electricity generation;
feasibility of the vast wind energy potential in Pakistan; investment opportunities
for the Indian Wind Companies in Pakistan; untapped hydropower potential in the
Kashmir Region and, how India and Pakistan can benefit by increasing
cooperation to exploit this potential. The paper recommends that both countries
should develop mutual trust in order to fuel investment in renewable energy
development, most importantly the wind energy, which will efficiently tackle
the impending issues of power shortage. This paper also talks in favor of
promoting technology sharing between the two countries to insure energy
security within South Asia.
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Engr. Arshad H. Abbasi, Ms Fareeha Mehmood, Ms
Ayesha Wasti, Ms Maha Kamal, and Ms Zohra Fatima are associated with the Energy
Unit at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Islamabad, Pakistan
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