Pakistan Russia defence ties set to enhance further
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MOSCOW - Defence cooperation and production is on the agenda of Pak-Russia dialogue, which is a constant feature and has already meaningful results like their navies cooperating in high seas for drug control, Russian defence minister’s visit to Pakistan and infantry exercises by 300 Russian troops in mountainous north of Pakistan. This important phase of bilateral relations between Islamabad and Moscow were highlighted by the Russian consul general in Karachi Alekxandr G Kozin during a press briefing Wednesday night . Just to recall, a reverse is now taking place between Russian Federation and Pakistan viewed in the context of the attitude of serfdom adopted by late Podgorny and company commanding the now defunct Soviet Union. Imperialism is gone, and now President Putin is up again a candidate for new elections, showing tremendous maturity in him and his colleagues. Russia upholds the principles of a peaceful co-existence of cultures, faiths and ethnicities. It respects the rights of other nations to choose political and socio-economic models on their own. He said that “We are concerned about the existing trend in a number of Western countries towards substituting universal human values with quasi-liberal ones and this not only within their national borders. There is no end to the attempts to aggressively export [these new values], which are being increasingly resisted by other nations seeking to preserve their lifestyles as well as their own national identity. Surveying his country’s foreign policy vis a vis Syria, Jersualem, Ukraine, and many more sensitive issues, he emphasized that “we believe that the solidarity of the global community should be based on traditional ideals shared by the world’s leading religions and cultures. Clearly, it is impossible to find effective solutions to numerous existing problems unless we strengthen the moral foundation of international life. We will further work to build relations between states on the principles of honesty, truth and justice.” Speaking specifically about Jersualam stand taken by President Trump, he said that Moscow is seriously concerned about Washington’s decision. We believe that a fair and lasting solution to the protracted Palestinian-Israeli conflict should be based on international law, including UN. On bilateral relations, he recalled the visit of foreign minister Khawaja Asaf’s meeting with his Russian couterpart Sergei Lavrov, and also their sideline discussion during UN General Assembly. They discussed mutual efforts for strengthening of Pakistan-Russia relations and the prevailing international and regional security situation. Both these meeting were very productive. Lavrov suggested that the forthcoming Intergovernmental Commission should explore concrete measures for enhancing trade, investment and energy connectivity between Russia and Pakistan. The two leaders also had in-depth discussion on the efforts for peace and stability in Afghanistan. Foreign Minister Lavrov extended invitation to Khawaja Asif to visit Moscow for bilateral consultations on strengthening bilateral relations and exchanging views about the international and regional issues. The Fifth Session of the Russia-Pakistan Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation was held in Moscow on November 28-30, 2017. The meeting was Co-chaired by Mr. Denis V.Manturov, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, and Mr. Khurram Dastgir Khan, Federal Minister for Defense of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. About trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation it is recognized that the current volume of bilateral trade was not commensurate with the existing potential. In 2016 the volume increased by 2% and reached USD 404,9 million. For the period of the first 9 months of the current calendar year, trade between out counties increased by 22% to USD 393,48 million. The Russia informed the Pakistan side that the Russian Federation is a member-state of Eurasian Economic Union comprising Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Armenia and Kazakhstan. Adoption on decision on preferential trade is possible only with support by all member-states of the EEU, since such decision is in the competence of the EEU. Pakistan requested the Russian side to arrange an interactive session to learn more about EEU including their internal tariffs, common external tariffs and preferential trade agreements already signed with other countries and agreements currently under negotiations. The two sides appreciated the positive gesture of Russia and requested that in view of the interest of Pakistani students to pursue higher education in the Russian Federation the number of scholarships may be increased in the years to come. He also dwelt in considerable detail about potential of expansion of trade, agri production, industrialization, and building economic ties on sounder footing. When there is a tremendous goodwill, time in opinion of many experts have for top level meeting between President Putin and Prime Minister of Pakistan.
