ISLAMABAD, June 7: President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday saw a broad-based mutuality of interest to promote Pakistan-Russia relations which he emphasised should be developed on bilateral basis and not through an Indo-centric approach.

In an interview to Russian news agency Itar-Tass, President Musharraf pointed to the need for building on good diplomatic and political ties through greater trade and economic cooperation.

“I think bilateral relations are good...we have diplomatic and political understanding between our countries,” he said.

The president said the understanding and excellent relations between President Vladimir Putin and himself added to the state of bilateral relationship.

“We have to translate it into economic and trade relation, we need to focus on this area,” he said, asking Moscow not to have an Indo-centric view of Pakistan. “Look at Pakistan from absolutely bilateral relationship between Pakistan and Russia,” he urged.

In reply to a question about Moscow’s role in the region, Gen Musharraf said first of all “we are all fighting terrorism. We need to coordinate our efforts in the area of intelligence to counter-terrorism.”

Moscow, he observed, enjoyed influence in Central Asia, a region with which Pakistan had historical and cultural bonds and wanted to expand trade, commercial and economic ties.

“There is a mutuality of interest in this region between Russia and Pakistan.”

President Musharraf referred to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a grouping of Russia, China and Central Asian countries. He said he would be attending this month’s summit in Shanghai with Pakistan looking forward to getting full SCO membership.

He pointed to the Muslim population in Russia. About Russian expectation of obtaining an observer status at the Organisation of Islamic Conference, President Musharraf said it was yet another area of common interest between the two countries.

“So there is a whole complexity, it is a broad-based bilateral interest between Pakistan and Russia, which we need to further.”

Identifying prospective areas of trade and economic cooperation, the president mentioned Pakistan’s textile sector and said it could export products to Russia.

Secondly, he noted, Pakistan’s oil and gas sector offered tremendous interest for Russian involvement.

About defence cooperation, he said Pakistan was interested in purchases from Russia and advocated that this area should also not have an Indo-centric approach.

He said Pakistan was also looking for Russian cooperation in the area of communication/observation satellite and transfer of technology.

Answering a question, he said the US-Iran nuclear crisis posed danger to the region. Pakistan, he said, was against nuclear proliferation but favoured use of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

He expressed the hope that the US and Iran would resolve the issue peacefully with a spirit of accommodation, flexibility and understanding between them.—APP