BEIJING – Following a series of high-profile visits in the past two weeks,Moscow and Islamabad have upgraded their bilateral ties just as a newgovernment has come to power in Pakistan.
Russian Ambassador to Pakistan Alexey Dedov recently carried a specialmessage from President Putin to newly-elected Prime Minister Imran Khanconveying “wishes to improve relations with Pakistan…(and) foster economiccooperation and people-to-people contact as well.”
In response, Khan also expressed his keen interest in enhancing ties withRussia, according to an article published by China.org.cn on Saturday.
Sharing many objectives, both nations are focused on regional peace andhave a similar diplomatic stance on important issues, such as the USdecision to abandon the JCPOA nuclear deal with Iran, containing terrorismin Afghanistan to stabilise it for advantageous regional trade and smoothcompletion of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Strengthening Track II diplomacy, encouraging academic and cultural ties,as well as improving people-to-people links are also on the agenda.
Economic ties have improved in the last few years, especially with theirlargest ever economic deal worth $2 billion in 2015, and developing a1,100-kilometer gas pipeline from Karachi to Lahore.
Thus, business ties are on an upward trajectory as in the 1970s era whenthe erstwhile Soviet Union built the Pakistan Steel Mills.
Now, both Russia and Pakistan are part of the Belt and Road Initiative aswell as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and have common economic andstrategic regional interests in this region.
Along with the agreed North-South gas pipeline, Russia has plans for asimilar Iranian-Pakistani-Indian offshore one worth $10 billion, whichcould transit across the China Pakistan Economic Corridor and become aparallel energy corridor.
In the future, there are also possibilities for Pakistan to become a memberof the Eurasian Development Bank.
Enhancing multi-dimensional ties with Moscow, further incentives are to beprovided to Russian companies for investments in the domestic energy sectorand efforts will be made to increase the trade volume.
On the military front, removal in 2014 of an arms embargo against Islamabadhas been hailed as a milestone in defense ties. Agreeing to sell fourMi-35M helicopters to Pakistan back then, Russia went on to hold the jointexercise “Druzhba” in 2016 and 2017 and the naval exercises “ArabianMonsoon” in 2014 and 2015.
Visiting Islamabad for the first session of the Russian-Pakistani MilitaryConsultative Committee on Defense and Security Issues last week, theRussian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin met with both the militaryand political top leadership to discuss bilateral cooperation.
While the two sides shared views on “regional security and the state andprospects of bilateral cooperation in the military and military-technicalareas,” ties were further elevated.
A Russian foreign ministry statement said the meeting confirmed a bid todeepen the dialogue and develop contacts in the defense sector. Furtherpossibilities could exist for the sale of more military equipment toPakistan after these high-level dialogues.
The new agreements between Pakistan and Russia happened to coincide withthe recent suspension of a decade-old arrangement for Pakistan Armyofficers to train at American military institutions such as the NDU.
The International Military Education and Training (IMET) program has been ahallmark of US-Pakistan relations in the past. Even as the US mulled overoptions to fill the 66 places falling empty in the next academic year,Russia and Pakistan pre-empted that move by agreeing to establish anapparent alternative educational military mechanism.
In retrospect, even the American-Indian strategic partnership may have setoff the chain reaction of altered South Asian power dynamics of recentyears.
Having the potential to bring non-traditional countries together in adifferent paradigm, foreign relations do have a ripple effect.
Even a decade ago, such a Russia-Pakistan equation might have beenconsidered an unlikely prospect. Upgrading relations has been an ongoingprocess based on mutual benefits and on a solid footing, it is not atransitory phenomenon.
Undoubtedly, a positive development in the complicated geopolitics of thisregion, Russia-Pakistan ties are essential for stability and have greatvalue. Leaving the Cold War era behind, both countries have converginginterests in Afghanistan and maintaining the peace there remains the toppriority.
Though both countries had been on opposite sides of the fence since thelast few decades, this improvement in their ties proves that there are nopermanent friends and enemies in geopolitics. – APP