ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has announced that the government resolved the Karkey dispute with the help of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In a tweet, the prime minister posted, ” The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, with the help of President Erdogan, has amicably resolved the Karkey dispute and saved Pak USD 1.2 billion penalties imposed by ICSID.”
PTI Govt, with the help of President Erdogan, has amicably resolved the Karkey dispute and saved Pak USD 1.2 billion penalty imposed by ICSID.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) November 4, 2019
Imran Khan also congratulated the negotiating team of the government for doing an excellent job in resolving the Karkey dispute with Turkey.
The prime minister wrote, “I want to congratulate the government’s negotiating team for doing an excellent job in achieving this.”
Last month, the PTI leader Babar Awan, told the media that the $1.2-billion sum was likely to be waived off due to backdoor negotiations between the two countries.
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The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) an arm of the World Bank that offers arbitration and conciliation services for disputes between governments and private foreign investors.
The ICSID slapped a penalty worth $760 million-plus interest to the Turkish ship-based energy firm, Karkey Karadeniz Elektrik Uretim, following the latter’s move to register arbitration claims against Pakistan under a bilateral investment treaty (BIT).
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In September 2017, it decided in favour of Karkey Karadeniz Elektrik Uretim and imposed a fine. The Turkish firm had registered a claim with the ICSID against Pakistan in 2013 over the violation of a contract worth as much as $564.6 million for a five-year period to build rental power plants in Karachi.
Sources had informed at that time that Pakistan had offered in March 2017 to pay an Rs700-million compensation to Karkey through the Turkish government.
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However, earlier this year, Pakistan had moved to open an escrow account in a bank in Europe to pay a partial sum as it sought extension in the enforcement of the ICSID’s verdict.
Karkey had been awarded the contract in 2009 by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)’s government. The contract had been struck down since 2012 until now.
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