0
DUSHANBE: Pakistan and Russia on Friday took another step forward in their efforts to turn a new page in bilateral relations by focussing on trade and economic interactions and working together for the stability and peace of the region.
On the sidelines of Quadrilateral Summit now officially termed as Dushanbe-4, President Asif Ali Zardari and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, while agreeing to build their equation independent of their bilateral relations with other countries, agreed to further strengthen bilateral relations and to broaden the scope of the existing equation with extended trade, economic, scientific and technological cooperation along with various other important areas including energy, counter-terrorism and strategic stability.
President Zardari reiterated his call to institutionalise a regular dialogue between the two countries at the Foreign Ministers' level with an annual bilateral meeting, alternatively in Islamabad and Moscow, to sustain the upward trajectory in the relationship.
Briefing the media about the meeting of the two Presidents, spokesperson to the President, Farhatullah Babar, said that during their sixth meeting in a period of less than three years, the two Presidents reviewed the progress made so far on the decisions taken during their earlier meetings.
He said that besides discussing the need to further enhance cooperation in various areas, the two Presidents also discussed the regional situation with reference to threat from militants including various other menaces such as drug-trafficking and the future likely situation of the region in the wake of a fast changing situation and recent developments.
Babar said that President Zardari welcoming Russian interest in various important energy projects such as TAPI, oil and gas exploration, hydel power production and distribution of coal based power generation appreciated the progress made thus far under the framework of the Joint Working Group of the two countries on energy cooperation.
He said that Pakistan would welcome Russian participation in the projects of coal power generation from deposits from Sindh and the hydel power projects like Munda, Kuramtagni and Muzzaffargarh.
Babar said that the mutual desire and understanding to enhance mutual cooperation in energy, oil and gas and power sector is beneficial to Pakistan keeping in mind Russia's expertise in the energy sector.
He said that during the previous visit of President Medvedev in May this year the two countries inked Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on energy cooperation which includes cooperation in exploration, development and operation of oil and gas fields, hydrocarbon processing, coal industry, energy infrastructure, energy efficiency and all other mutually agreed areas of cooperation under the framework.
He said that during President Zardari's earlier visit to Russia in May, the two sides also welcomed the participation of Russian companies in expansion of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM). He said that the MoU on the expansion and modernisation of PSM from 1.5 mtpy to 3 mtpy in a phased manner was in the final stage.
He said that the two leaders during their meeting expressed satisfaction over the progress made under the umbrellas of Joint Working Group on Strategic stability and that of counter-terrorism.
President Zardari appreciated Russia's readiness to help Pakistan enhance its counter-terrorism capacity, including through supply of counter-terrorism equipment.
The need to further extend mutual cooperation in the areas of technical expertise and education and scientific spheres was also agreed upon by the two presidents during their meeting. It was agreed to hold, at the earliest, the next session of Inter-Governmental Commission that caters to promote cooperation in these spheres.
During the meeting, President Zardari emphasised upon the need to materialise full existing trade potential between the two countries saying that greater market access to each other’s goods and services would help to enhance the existing trade volume of about 300 million dollars to $1 billion.
President Zardari also reiterated his offer to his Russian counterpart for Russian Banks to open their branches in Pakistan, on one hand, and to consider entering in currency swap agreement, on the other.
He hoped that Pakistan's proposal to declare Karachi and Saint Petersburg as sister cities, upon its materialisation, would serve to enhance mutual cooperation and promote trade and economic activities between the two countries.
Discussing the regional situation, the two Presidents showed their keen desire to work together for the peace and stability of the region. President Zardari said that Pakistan considered Russia an important player in world affairs and an important stakeholder in peace at the regional and global levels.
He reiterated Pakistan's stance of its abiding interest in peace, stability and development of Afghanistan saying that Pakistan was committed to work with international community for this purpose.
