Pakistan and Turkey have agreed to carry out work on the Stream gas pipeline project from Russia to Islamabad. According to details, the agreement came during a meeting between Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
During the meeting, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the Turkish President agreed to promote bilateral trade and implement large-scale projects, including natural gas supply. We should point out that part of the infrastructure for the Pakistan-Russia Stream pipeline is already in operation in Moscow, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Welcoming the recent signing of the agreement between the two countries (Pakistan-Turkey), the Pakistani Prime Minister expressed confidence that the optimal utilization of the agreement will boost bilateral trade and act as a catalyst for further consolidation of bilateral economic and investment relations.
The two leaders decided to maintain close contact and continue high-level exchanges to further strengthen the multi-dimensional strategic relations between Pakistan and Turkey. A day earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met today on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that supplying natural gas to Pakistan by pipeline was possible and that part of the infrastructure was already in operation.
The two sides agreed to convene the next Intergovernmental Committee (IGC) meeting in Islamabad earlier, it said.
The long-delayed natural gas pipeline vital to the South Asian country’s economy, the Pakistan Stream natural gas project, also known as the North-South Natural Gas Pipeline, is to be built in partnership with Russian companies.
The two countries (Pakistan-Russia) agreed in 2015 to build a 1,100-km (683-mile) pipeline to deliver imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Karachi on the Arabian Sea coast to power plants in the northeastern province of Punjab.
The planned annual capacity of the pipeline is 12.4 billion cubic meters (bcm), expandable to 16 bcm.
The project, which was due to start in 2020, was delayed after Russia had to replace the original participant, which was hit by Western sanctions.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s predecessor, Imran Khan, visited Moscow in February, the day Russia invaded Ukraine. Khan claimed the visit angered the United States, which he later accused of conspiring to overthrow his government. Washington denies the claim.
