The much-touted $3 billion Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline (PSGP) project, as well as a long-term trade agreement for oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG), will be the topics of bilateral negotiations between Pakistan and a Russian delegation that will arrive tomorrow.
The team, which consists of 80 personnel, will land in Pakistan on Tuesday for three days of bilateral discussions through the Inter-Governmental Commission forum (IGC).
For the IGC negotiations, the Pakistani delegation will be led by Federal Minister Sardar Ayaz Sadiq. Both states must first negotiate the IGA (inter-governmental agreement), which was finalised and signed in the case of the Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline Project (PSGP), formerly known as the North-South Gas pipeline project, in order to import Russian oil and LNG on a GtG basis.
According to The News, the shareholding and facilitation agreement for PSGP was still in draught form on February 24, 2022, when former prime minister Imran Khan travelled to Moscow. Both parties wanted to sign the PSGP agreement during the Imran and Putin meeting, but it was not able to be done since the experts from both sides could not agree on several terms of the shareholding agreement.
Currently, the G7 nations have capped the price of Russian crude oil at $60 per barrel and forbade the use of Russian ships to carry oil. In exchange, Moscow promised to stop selling oil to nations who agree to a Western price restriction on its petroleum.
The Pakistani side will talk about the shipment costs, the premium by the shipping trader, the insurance coverage, and the payment options.
Agribusiness, energy, customs, industry, education, research and technology, information and communication technologies, communication, roads and postal service, railroads, and finance are all included in the IGC’s agenda as areas for cooperation in trade and investments. Additionally, Pakistan’s debt to Russia will be settled and discussed.
The potential for cooperation in the areas of electric power, hydropower, renewable energy sources, and oil and petrol production will also be discussed by the two sides.
In their response, the Pakistani team proposed to change the model of the PSGP project. The Russian side said that the model of the project under GtG (government-to-government) arrangement had already been settled, save for some clauses of the shareholding agreement, which would soon be finalized.
