MOSCOW, November 22. /TASS/. Talks between Moscow and Islamabad on the Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline (PSGP) continue, Pakistan’s newly appointed Ambassador to Russia Muhammad Khalid Jamali confirmed in an interview to TASS.

When asked whether the project has entered the advanced stage, the envoy replied: "Indeed, the agreement on Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline (PSGP) have already been signed and the parties are now negotiating its details, the work is going on."

"However, the exact dates are not yet available," he said, adding that the construction is unlikely to begin in 2023.

The countries signed an intergovernmental agreement on the construction of the North-South gas pipeline in 2015. Its length will be 1,100 km, and its throughput capacity will be up to 12.4 billion cubic meters per year. The gas pipeline is to link terminals for receiving liquefied natural gas in the city of Karachi in southern Pakistan with the city of Lahore in the north. Power plants running on LNG should be built there.

The parties were supposed to sign commercial agreements in 2016, and it was planned to hand over the facility by 2018, but the project implementation dates have already been postponed several times. On May 28, 2021, Russian Energy Minister Nikolay Shulginov and Pakistani Ambassador to the Russian Federation Shafqat Ali Khan signed a protocol amending the intergovernmental agreement dated October 16, 2015 on the construction of the Pakistan Stream gas pipeline, which made it possible to proceed to the practical implementation of the project.

In January, the Russian Energy Ministry reported that Moscow sees no obstacles to the implementation of this project and is working on an appropriate road map with Islamabad.