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The BBC's Mike Wooldridge: "Pakistan's growing energy problems are hitting firms hard"
President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have inaugurated a controversial gas pipeline linking the two neighbours.
The US has warned that the project could incur sanctions connected with Iran's nuclear programme.
The long-delayed pipeline is seen in Pakistan as a way of alleviating the country's chronic energy shortages.
The work on the Iranian side is almost complete. Monday marks the start of construction in Pakistan.
Potentially this is a big deal for Pakistan, in every sense. Power blackouts are increasing, demand for electricity and gas rises all the time - and the government is under consistent domestic pressure to find a solution.
And it has to be financed in the face of America's warnings that involvement in the project could attract US sanctions.
Pakistan is dismissive of scepticism about the pipeline and seems confident the hurdles can be overcome and gas will flow in around two years. For Iran, another route out for its gas will clearly be welcome.
Some analysts here believe President Zardari sees this as an opportune time to be assertive, not least on the grounds that the partnership with Pakistan will be crucial to the US as Nato combat forces withdraw from Afghanistan.
Live television footage showed the two presidents shaking hands with dignitaries as the ceremony got under way at the border.
A total of 780km (485 miles) of pipeline is due to be built in the country over the next two years.
Dubbed the "peace pipeline", talks on the project began in 1994. The pipeline was initially intended to carry gas on to India, but Delhi withdrew from negotiations in 2009 just a year after it signed a nuclear deal with the US.
The US says the project would enable Iran to sell more of its gas, undermining efforts to step up pressure over Tehran's nuclear activities.
"If this deal is finalised for a proposed Iran-Pakistan pipeline, it would raise serious concerns under our Iran Sanctions Act. We've made that absolutely clear to our Pakistani counterparts," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters last week.
Washington - a major donor to Pakistan - has also argued that there are other ways to ease Pakistan's energy crisis. One option favoured by the US is a plan to import gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan, which has been under discussion for years.
But power shortages have become a major and pressing issue in Pakistan, and the government there insists it will not bow to pressure.
A nationwide power cut last month was blamed on a technical fault in a plant in south-western Balochistan province, but it highlighted the energy challenges the country faces.
Blackouts are common in Pakistan because of chronic power shortages, and many areas are without electricity for several hours a day,
Last year Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said the pipeline was "in Pakistan's national interest" and would be completed "irrespective of any extraneous considerations".
However BBC world affairs correspondent Mike Wooldridge says Pakistan acknowledges that the pipeline route through the troubled province of Balochistan presents significant security challenges.
Separatist rebels fighting for autonomy and an increased share of mineral resources have frequently targeted pipelines in the gas-rich province.
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