ISLAMABAD – Russia is keen to develop its stakes in Pakistan’s economy. Forthis, a 64-member delegation headed by Minister for Trade and Industriesfor the Russian Federation, Denis V Manturov, is visiting Pakistan for fourdays to attend an Inter-Governmental Commission.
According to the latest updates, Russia has shown willingness to helpreconstruct Pakistan Steel Mills making it economically viable and play itsrole in Pakistan’s energy sector. Russia also wants to construct therailway track from Quetta to Taftan. It will offer Sukhoi SuperJet-100passenger planes to Pakistan for PIA, confirmed senior officials atEconomic Affairs Division, ministries of Industries & Production andCommerce. Russia and Pakistan will also figure out the much-delayedNorth-South gas pipeline project.
While mentioning the Russian offer of SSJ-100 aircraft for PIA, theofficial said that the said planes will be available on direct purchase andlease to purchase options and can be positioned immediately on wet lease tomeet the immediate operational requirements of PIA.
The aircraft can be operated both, on domestic and international, routes tothe Middle East, CIS, India, China, Colombo, Bangladesh, UAE etc. Theaircraft can be supplied on both wet or dry lease with the option topurchase. He further said that the route analysis for PIA in 2012, and moreimportantly Sukhoi SuperJet SSJ-100 is a pet project of President Putin.
The official said that Russia, in the recent past, offered three options.
Under the first option, Russia wanted that its state-owned companies tounder government-to-government arrangement that will revamp Pakistan SteelMills and then it will hand it to Pakistan while under the second option,Russian state-owned companies will revamp PSM with their own managementrequired for operation and maintenance under the government-to-governmentarrangement. Under the third option, the project will get divided intothree parts to be revamped under which a power plant of 156MW will berehabilitated separately and similarly Coke Oven Battery Plan (COPB), ColdRolling Mills and Hot Strip Mills and Jetty will be revamped separately.
However, Pakistan wants to deal with Pakistan Steel Mills under publicprivate partnership (PPP) mode.
He went on to say that during the IGC meeting, there are chances to createa joint venture in Pakistan for production and maintenance of rolling stockof spare parts that can be used for running the Pakistan Steel Mills.
During the 4 day visit, both the countries will also explore avenues forincreasing the bilateral trade which currently stands at about $400million. Pakistan’s exports stand at $150 million while the import fromRussia is $250 million. Last year, the bilateral trade surged by up to $700million as Pakistan purchased MI-35 helicopters from Russia.
Talking about much-delayed North-South pipeline, the official said thatRussia has so far failed to provide sanction-free structure to Pakistan toinitiate the $2.1 billion pipeline.