ISLAMABAD, June 14: Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov’s visit to Pakistan on Sunday is seen as a major political event marking the recent progress in ties between Islamabad and Moscow. Mr Ivanov will be the first Russian foreign minister to visit Pakistan in nine years.

Mr Ivanov comes here four months after President Pervez Musharraf’s state visit to Russia. The visit indicates that the Russians “now have a South Asia policy rather than an India policy,” remarked a Pakistani diplomat, who also linked the visit to the regional situation and recent peace overtures by India and Pakistan.

“It is clear that Russia would like to play a role in South Asia. It played a role in Almaty and much earlier in Tashkent,” the diplomat added, pointing out that Mr Ivanov would go to India after talks with the top Pakistani leadership here.

“While the principal focus of the talks between the two sides will be development of bilateral relations in all fields, they will also promote better understanding of regional situations,” a foreign ministry official said.

One of the most significant developments in Pakistan-Russia bilateral ties has been the forging of a strategic partnership between the two countries with the establishment of a major working group — the Consultative Group on Strategic Stability — that met for the first time in Moscow this January. Moscow has had such consultative groups only with G-8 members and a few other countries it considers key players.