“Pakistan and Russia have made tremendous, substantive strides
in their partnership since 2013. Defense cooperation has been the vanguard of
this new chapter in Pak-Russia relationship, but will soon be matched by vast
energy-sector cooperation.”
This was stated by Minister for Defence Engineer Khurram Dastgir
Khan while concluding the 5th Pak-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission (IGC) in
Moscow as Pakistan co-Chair with his Russian counterpart, Minister for Trade
and Industry Denis V. Manturov.
The Pakistani and Russian Ministers signed the formal protocol
after a plenary session of the IGC that concluded three days of multi-faceted
dialogue and negotiations between the Pakistan and Russian contingents.
Speaking to the media after the signing ceremony, the Pakistan
co-Chair announced that both sides have accelerated ongoing negotiations on
numerous energy sector investments by Russia into Pakistan.
“We have also added important new subjects such as trade
liberalization to the IGC, and held the first meeting of Pak-Russia Joint
Working Group on Trade. Other subjects of the dialogue were mutual recognition
of standards, increasing Pak students in Russia, banking and customs
cooperation, and visa facilitation,” said Minister Khan.
Khurram Dastgir Khan was appointed recently by the Prime Minster
to co-Chair the Pak-Russia IGC. He led a 22-member delegation consisting of
Secretaries of Economic Affairs, Energy, and Textile Industry as well as senior
officials from Ministries of Petroleum, Foreign Affairs, and Commerce. Minister
Manturov led a 50-member delegation of Russian officials.
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