ISLAMABAD : Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk, is to reach Islamabad on Wednesday (tomorrow) with a high-level delegation on a two days visit (18-19 September 2024).
According to Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Prime Minister Overchuk will hold meetings with the President, the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister of Pakistan.
Pakistan and Russia enjoy cordial relations based on goodwill, amity and trust, which is reflected in the multi-faceted bilateral cooperation including in trade, energy and connectivity.
The sources said, Russia is likely to offer its assistance in suspended Iran Pakistan gas pipelines, which apparently is not possible due to sanctions of United States.
Russia has also proposed working on a pipeline from Iran towards Pakistan and even further on to India; Russian side during discussions last year in the energy week conveyed that it had discussed this proposal with India; the idea was to produce an agreement between the two neighboring countries akin to the Indus Water Treaty and that India was ready to discuss this idea further.
According to sources, Islamabad is prepared a three pronged strategy for Pakistan-Russia energy cooperation i.e. procurement of crude oil procurement of LNG; and development of gas infrastructure in Pakistan.
Pakistan successfully imported crude oil from Russia last year with an initial shipment of 100,000 metric tons. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif termed the day of the arrival of the Russian cargo ship as a ‘transformative day’’.
Russian side accepted a non-confirmed Letter of Credit (LC) for the procurement at that time, with none of the other major oil suppliers providing this flexibility.
Procurement of oil from Russia on a B2B basis has been undertaken by Cnergyico in Pakistan. Payments were made in Yuan through Chinese banks, however, import of crude oil is suspended due to issues of banking channel. Government is working on various proposals to resolve this issue.
Pakistan Embassy suggested looking into a long term agreement of supply of crude oil from Russia, if it proves economically beneficial on G2G basis.
Pakistan is also expected to revisit its strategy on Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline Project as the crucial issues in the project to be addressed include financing and identifying a gas source.
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