Islamabad: Prime Minister Imran Khan has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit Pakistan and expressed satisfaction over the steady growth in Pak-Russia relations.
According to details, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who is on his 2-day official visit to Pakistan met with Prime Minister and discussed bilateral relations, regional and international issues.
During the meeting, Pakistan's stance on peace and security issues in South Asia and the situation in the region, including West Asia and the Middle East were discussed.
The Prime Minister apprised the Russian Foreign Minister of Pakistan's position in the context of the situation in occupied Kashmir and the two leaders stressed the need for a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute.
Imran Khan during the meeting invited Russian President Putin to visit Pakistan and recapped his meeting with the Russian President at the SCO Summit.
Imran Khan also spoke about the importance of relations with Russia and expressed satisfaction over the steady growth in bilateral relations. It was agreed that the Inter-Governmental Commission (IGC), due to meet in Moscow later this year, would closely pursue specific proposals and projects in that context.
PM khan also echoed his commitment to start work on the Pakistan Stream Gas Line project soon.
Earlier, in a joint press conference with Shah Mehmood Qureshi, the Russian Foreign Minister had announced to provide military equipment to Pakistan for counter-terrorism.
The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during delegation-level talks with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi reaffirmed the commitment to promote bilateral cooperation with Pakistan in diverse fields including economy, trade and defence.
In a joint news conference, Sergey Lavrov said that Russia is ready to further build counter-terrorism potential through the provision of military equipment.
“Both countries have agreed to further conduct military exercises and drills,” he stated.
The Russian Foreign Minister expressed satisfaction over a 46% increase in bilateral trade. However, he stressed that there is a need to further diversify it.
By terming the relationship between the two countries mutually beneficial and constructive, he added that Russia has provided 50,000 jabs of Covid-19 to Pakistan and intend to provide 150,000 more.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that Pakistan is keen to build a strong multifaceted relationship with Russia.
“We feel that not just Pakistan have geographic proximity but Russia is a factor of stability in the region and the world at large,” he added.
Following the discussion on the entire spectrum of bilateral relations, the Foreign Minister revealed that both countries have agreed to hold the intergovernmental commission meeting this year in Moscow.
Referring to the situation in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir the Foreign Minister briefed the Russian counterpart about the human rights situation.
Mahmood Qureshi, describing the visit of the Russian Foreign Minister to Pakistan said, “The visit is taking place after almost a decade”.
“This visit will further deepen bilateral relations and friendship and we intend to maintain this momentum and high-level contacts,” he concluded.
