ISLAMABAD – Counselor from the Embassy of the Russian Federation Dr SergeiA. Baranov on Friday termed Pakistan an important partner for Russia sayingthat the significance of Pakistan was determined by its role in regionalpolitics.
Giving an overview of Pakistan-Russia’s bilateral relations at the one-dayseminar titled “Evolving Regional Dynamics and Future of Pakistan-RussiaRelations held here, Dr Sergei said that Pakistan has great influence inthe world as it has an important geostrategic importance, said a pressrelease issued here.
“Interaction with Pakistan in the framework of the Shanghai CooperationOrganization (SCO), as a full-fledged member, is very important for Russiato carry out cross-regional economic, energy and infrastructure projects,and we are very glad that Pakistan is practically engaged in SCO,especially in joint counterterrorism efforts.”
Dr Baranov said that recent years have witnessed steadfast progress inbilateral relations as both sides has regularly exchange views on keyissues of regional and bilateral importance.“Such meetings give an added impetus to our mutually beneficialpartnership”, he remarked.
The Counselor also pointed out that the economic dimension of Pak-Russiancooperation has not corresponded to its potential.
He stressed that both countries have to fasten it working onRussian-Pakistani Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic,Scientific and Technical Cooperation, in order to increase mutual tradepotential.
On the occasion, President of Islamabad Policy of Research (IPRI), ViceAdmiral Saddique stressed that there was common areas of cooperationbetween Pakistan and Russia such as combating terrorism, bilateral trade,economic cooperation and stability in the region, especially Afghanistan.
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“As Asia emerges as a hub of economic corridors, Pakistan offers attractiveeconomic opportunities to the regional countries and beyond. CPEC, a pilotproject of Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a case in point.Initiatives like Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI)”.
Ambassador (R) Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Director General, Institute ofStrategic Studies (ISS), was of the view that while Pakistan, Iran, Chinaand the Central Asian states have already been playing an instrumental rolein the Afghan peace process through several track two initiatives, theMoscow Format talks in November 2018, as well as recent intra-Afghandialogue in Moscow in February 2019 are very important and historic becausethey were the first official intra-Afghan talks, stimulating optimism bybringing a different and much needed dimension to the Afghan peace process,predicted that the SCO, in the future, could become an arbiter of regionaldisputes.
Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri, Executive Director, Sustainable Development PolicyInstitute (SDPI), said that it is important to understand Russia’sgeography, especially when it comes to enhancing economic relations with itsince it borders 14 other countries.
He said that since becoming part of the World Trade Organization, Russiahas consistently worked to improve its trade and commerce environment dueto which its Ease of Doing Business ranking is at 35, more than 100 pointsbetter than Pakistan.
