Pakistan has nearly struck a deal with Moscow for a Russian-built pipelineto transport natural gas from Karachi to the rest of the country. [Getty]
Pakistan’s plan for a Russianlinkgas pipeline is nearly finalised despite the slew of internationalsanctions imposed on Moscowlink, *The Financial Times*link.
Islamabad’s Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin said the deal to build themulti-billion dollar pipeline is “almost done” and once completed it willcarry liquified natural gaslinkfromthe country’s southern port of Karachi to northern Pakistan.
“We need a gas pipeline to transport LNG from south to north. That’llbecome essential for us in the next two or three years,” he was quoted assaying in *The* *Financial Times*.
“Either there’s an alternative for us or we’ll go ahead with this deal…This is the best alternative as of now, and this was obviously done beforeUkraine.”
The pipeline will be built by a group of Russian companies and is estimatedto cost more than $2 billion.
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Islamabad, which was an ally of western forces during the Cold War, has inrecent years strengthened ties with Russia and China in a bid to shore upits energy security.
But its recent warming ties with Moscow have strained relations with theWest, especially since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.
Western states, led by the US and the EU, have led a boycott of Russia,attempting to isolate Moscow on the global stage.
Pakistan has been pressured by western powers to condemnRussian aggression, prompting Prime Minister Imran Khan to lash outlinkattheir demands.
