Pakistan and Russia signed the Amendment Protocols to the Inter-Governmental Agreement on Cooperation in the Implementation of the North-South Gas Pipeline Construction Project on May 28, 2021.[1] The signing of the Amendment Protocols came into fruition after the visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Pakistan in early April this year. During his visit, the Russian Foreign Minister stated that the construction of the gas pipeline was part of the conversation between officials of the two countries and that construction will begin soon after the finalization of details of this project.
The initial Inter-Governmental Agreement on Cooperation in the Implementation of the North-South Gas Pipeline Construction Project was signed between Pakistan and Russia back on October 16, 2015.[2] Construction of this project was delayed for many years for different reasons, ranging from disagreements on financial and operational details of the project to the risk of invoking US sanctions.
