ISLAMABAD – Russian Ambassador Alexey Dedov on Wednesday said Russia wasclosely in touch with Pakistan on counter-terrorism and strategic issues.

Speaking here at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI), theRussian ambassador said the military cooperation between the two countrieswas well beyond the supplies of helicopters and expanded to conduct ofground and navy exercises as well.

The Russian ambassador said Intergovernmental Commission (IGC) on trade,economic, scientific and technical cooperation between Russia and Pakistan(IGC) was working hard to build business ties.

“Russia believes that working together in IGC and in other bilateralmechanisms will help fast implementation of bilateral projects,” he said.

He expressed satisfaction over the growth level in Pak-Russia bilateraltrade, which he said during 2017 bloomed by 33 percent and later reached to82 percent in last five months from January 2018 onwards.

He said Russia was interested in carrying out projects of mutual interestwith Pakistan in areas including energy,steel industry,optical fibre,pharmaceuticals, water and sanitation.

Dedov mentioned that several MoUs were already in place between Pakistanand Russia for cooperation in science and technology, banking andtransport of Liquified Natural Gas through gas pipeline.

On Afghanistan, he said Pakistan’s role was important as along with Russiaand China, the three countries were committed for a peaceful diplomaticAfghan-owned and Afghan-led solution to the issue.

He termed the Pak-China relations as “very solid” and said Russia welcomedthis relationship, adding that his country’s relations with China werecurrently on highest terms in history.

The Russian ambassador said Russia never had an objection over Pakistan’smembership in Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and would extend support infuture as well.

To a question on playing role of mediator on ending stalemate in relationsbetween Pakistan and India, he said the efforts could be exercised whenboth sides requested about it.

However, he said Russia was trying to facilitate this process by engagingboth countries.

On Kashmir, he said the situation was very complicated and Russia’s stanceon Kashmir was that both Pakistan and India should find a bilateralsolution to the issue.

He said Russia’s main objective was maintaining geo-political stability inthe world rather than becoming and behaving like a super power.

He said Gwadar seaport was a very prospective project and would serve wellfor Pakistan. – APP