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MOSCOW: Pakistan and Russia agreed on Wednesday to enhance cooperation in trade and energy and people-to-people contacts.
Addressing a press conference along with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said various aspects of improving cooperation had been discussed during her meeting with Mr Lavrov.
Ms Khar is on a four-day visit to the Russian Federation at the invitation of her Russian counterpart.
The foreign ministers exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest and means of enhancing cooperation in energy, infrastructure development, agriculture and science and technology.
Responding to a question on Afghanistan, Ms Khar said Pakistan would extend full cooperation to any Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-driven peace initiative which was the only way to find a lasting solution to the problem.
She said Pakistan had repeatedly stated that it wanted a political solution to the Afghan problem for durable peace in the region.
The foreign minister said the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project and CASA-1000 energy projects were discussed, adding that Pakistan also got a very encouraging response from Russia for more investment in Pakistan Steel Mills.
She said that both countries had agreed to enhance parliamentary interaction besides increasing cooperation at the level of foreign ministries of the two countries.
Ms Khar said that it had also been agreed that there would be more interaction between chambers of commerce and industries of the two countries to improve trade relations.
The foreign minister said that Russian investors had also shown interest in investment in energy projects like Thar coal.
Talking about the regional cooperation, the foreign minister said the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) was an important forum to meet regional challenges.
She said Pakistan had been actively participating in deliberations of SCO and seeking its permanent membership and thanked Russia for its support on the issue.
Ms Khar said the next quadrilateral summit to be held in Pakistan was also discussed during the meting with her Russian counterparty and said that Pakistan was looking forward to host this summit. She said she had extended an invitation to the Russian leadership on behalf of President Asif Ali Zardari for the summit.
Foreign Minister Lavrov said the two countries also agreed to cooperate in combating terrorism and drug crimes.
“We have a good future in implementation of major transnational energy projects at the border between the Central Asian and South Asian regions.”
Mr Lavrov said: “In our international cooperation we pay special attention to issues of terrorism and drug crimes.”
He said a representative of the Russia federal service on control of narcotic substances would soon start working in Islamabad.
On promotion of trade, Mr Lavrov said Russia had presented to Pakistan a joint action plan in trade and investments.
“We discussed cooperation within the framework of the SCO, the Dushanbe quartet and the UN Security Council, as Pakistan is the Security Council’s member for 2012-2013,” Mr Lavrov said.—APP
