ISLAMABAD – Russia is likely to support Pakistan against United States inthe FATF counter Terrorism watch list resolution in Paris.
Pakistan has decided to approach United States which continues its hostilepolicy towards the only nuclear armed Muslim-majority country, diplomaticsources said. Pakistan was working to improve the country’s global standingamid the harsh policies of Europe and the United States.
China has a history of friendship with Pakistan while Russia is offering afriendship. We need to grab their (Russia’s) hand, officials in Pakisanhave said.
He added: “We are facing a diplomatic challenge but still we cannot givein. We need to bounce back. Russi is our best hope.”
Yesterday, Foreign Minister Kh Asif flew to Moscow on the invitation ofForeign Minister Sergey Lavrov of the Russian Federation from February19-22.
A foreign ministry statement said during his stay in Moscow, the ForeignMinister will hold official talks with his Russian counterpart. “The twosides would deliberate upon the entire spectrum of bilateral relations aswell as regional and international issues of mutual interest,” it added.
The statement said the visit would provide an opportunity to explore waysand means to further strengthen cooperation in political, economic, tradeand investment, defence, education and cultural fields.
“Russia enjoys a special place in our foreign policy. The relations betweenthe two countries have been growing steadily in all fields.
Regular high-level exchanges between the two countries in the last fewyears is a manifestation of mutual desire of both sides for translatingpolitical goodwill into a substantive and multidimensional partnership. Thetwo countries are also celebrating the 70th anniversary of establishment ofdiplomatic relations this year,” it said.
The two foreign ministers had earlier met on the sidelines of the UNGeneral Assembly session in New York in September 2017.
Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin had offered to mediate betweenIslamabad and New Delhi to ease tension in South Asia. The move waswelcomed by Islamabad but India refused to oblige.
President Putin had also refused to condemn the 2016 Uri attack and Chinaalso denied support India’s bid for the Nuclear Suppliers Group membership.While China’s response was expected by pakistanlink> , Russia’s neutrality gave them theboost they wanted as Islamabad took the Kashmir issue to the global powers.
However, President Putin signed agreements of cooperation with India indifferent sectors worth billions of dollars. India and russialink> also reached an understanding tomanufacture military copters. Reportedly, India is to buy a ground-to-airtargeting technology from russia link> as well.
Foreign ministry officials said Pak-Russia relationship was on a positivetrajectory. Both the sides have signed defence agreement, held jointmilitary exercises and russia link> wasinvesting $2 billion in South-North gas pipeline project.
Another foreign ministry official saidpakistanlink> will seek Russia’s help to stop thewestern countries from putting pakistan link> onthe terror watch-list at the ongoing Financial Action Task Force meeting inParis. The six-day FATF meeting started on February 18. No country, exceptChina, has committed to vote forpakistanlink> after the uslink> submitted a resolution to the FATF to placepakistan link> on the terror watch-list.
The 37 permanent members of FATF include Argentina, Australia, Austria,Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, European Commission, Finland,France, Germany, Greece, Gulf Co-operation Council, Hong Kong, China,Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Luxembourg,Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, RussianFederation, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey,United Kingdom and the us link> . Israel and SaudiArabia have observer status.
The official said russia link> had earlieragreed to ‘consider’ Pakistan’s request to support Islamabad at the FATFmoot.
Former ambassador Rustam Shah Mahmand said uslink> PresidentDonald Trump will have to adopt flexibility. “Pakistan has its options.russia link> is a global power and Pakistan’sties are improving with russia link> ,” headded.