Russia extends offer to fulfil Pakistan’s energy needs

ISLAMABAD: At a high powered meeting between Russian delegations and officials from Pakistan, Russia has extended its hand to Pakistan and offered their aid in fulfilling Pakistan’s energy needs. 

The offer was made during the first day of the eighth meeting of the Pakistani-Russian Inter-governmental Commission (IGC) on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation taking place in Islamabad this week.  

The meeting commenced in Islamabad on Wednesday wherein both sides reviewed the existing areas of cooperation and deliberated on new proposals for cooperation. According to sources, on the first day of the Pak-Russia IGC meeting, experts of both sides reviewed previous decisions which were made so far between the two countries and also deliberated on new proposals for further deepening the bilateral relations while areas of mutual cooperation like trade and investment; agriculture; energy; industry; education; science and technology; information and communication technologies; finance, customs and communication including roads, postal service and railways remained under discussion between the two countries.

During the first day of the technical session of the 8th Pak-Russia IGC, the Russian side was headed by Deputy Director of the Department of Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, Israfil Ali-Zade while Secretary Ministry of Economic Affairs, Dr Kazim Niaz led the Pakistani side. A Russian delegation, comprising around eighty (80) members, is participating in the meeting, said sources.

Speaking at the opening session of the meeting, Secretary Ministry of Economic Affairs, Dr Kazim Niaz said that huge potential existed there to benefit from the comparative advantage between Pakistan and Russia. He said Pakistan got a big hit due to devastating floods and appreciated the support extended by the international community during such times of crisis.

Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Director of the Department of Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, Israfil Ali-Zade said Russia valued its relations with Pakistan. He said in all sectors of economy, there was a good level of cooperation and Russia aimed to enhance it further. He said there was a great potential between both economies that needed to be explored more.

During the technical session, the Russian side offered to supply oil and gas to Pakistan at discounted rates and assured that Russia can fulfil Pakistan’s energy needs, said sources.

They added that the Pakistani side provided data pertaining to the country's oil and gas demand while the Russian side offered prices and quantity of oil and gas and both sides agreed to devise a final working paper in this regard.

“The proposals coming out of these technical sessions would be incorporated into the main Protocol of the Commission, which would be discussed, conformed and signed during the plenary session on third day of the session”, said the sources

 Sources also said that the Wednesday IGC meeting also discussed payments and shipping modes and mechanisms while technical information of both sides on oil and gas will be the part of agenda of Thursday’s scheduled meeting of the IGC. They said ministerial level talks between Pakistan and Russia will be held on Thursday and a major breakthrough on oil, gas supply from Russia and long-term LNG agreement and construction of North-South Gasline project is expected to be achieved during this meeting. They said Pakistani Ministers including Ayaz Sadiq and Musadik Malik will represent the Pakistani side while Russian Energy Minister Nikolay Shulginov will represent the Russian side in the ministerial level talks between the two countries. During Thursday's ministerial level talks, import of Russian crude oil, petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD) will also be the part of agenda, said sources.

 It is also learnt from sources that both sides on Wednesday exchanged facts and figures pertaining to different sectors wherein mutual cooperation can be beneficial for each other while prices of oil and gas import from Russia also remained under discussion. Similarly, preparation of a roadmap for import of oil and gas from Russia on a short-term and long-term basis was also discussed in the meeting, said sources.

As per sources, on second of 8th IGC, the two sides are scheduled to hold technical consultations on finalizing the ‘Draft Protocol’ of the ongoing 8th IGC while on Friday, there would be main discussion on the implementation of the gas pipeline construction project titled “the Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline (PSGP),” oil and petroleum products delivery to Pakistan, Russian-Pakistani financial cooperation, implementation of the decisions and recommendations of the seventh meeting of the commission, besides cooperation in different sectors before signing of the final protocol of the 8th meeting of the commission.

It is pertinent to mention here that 8th IGC is expected to find ways and means to promote Pak- Russia cooperation in diverse fields like trade and investment, agriculture, energy, industry, education, science and technology, Information and communication technologies, roads, postal services and railways, finance and customs.