Pakistan appreciates Russia’s acknowledgement for Pakistan’s
commitment and sacrifices in war against terrorism. Russia’s cooperation with
Pakistan in this war without any demand of “Do more” is praiseworthy. This was
stated by Minister of State and Chairperson BISP, MNA Marvi Memon while
chairing a meeting of Pakistan – Russian Federation Parliamentary Friendship
Group (PFG) as Convener with the Russian parliamentary delegation today at
Parliament House, Islamabad.
The Russian parliamentary delegation was headed by H.E Mr. I.
Piskarev, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Security and Counter
Corruption. The other members included Mr. Dmitry I. Savelyev, Mr. Sergey V.
Alenkin and Mr. Valery V. Fadeev. PFG included Ms. Amra Khan, Mr.
Shaheryar Khan Afridi, Ms. Mussarat Ahmedzeb, Ms. Shakila Luqman and Sheikh
Salahuddin. During the meeting, the two sides discussed to expand cooperation
in the fields of regional security, counter terrorism, economic and trade
relations, energy sector, defense sector, peaceful use of nuclear energy,
parliamentary and cultural exchanges.
H.E Mr. I. Piskarev, on the occasion, stated that Russia aims to
maintain closer relations with Pakistan. Fighting terrorism with the objective
of its eradication is the common destiny of both Islamabad and Moscow. Russia
considers Pakistan as an important regional power with whom Russia intends to
enhance bilateral economic cooperation beyond the current bilateral trade
turnover of US$ 405 million.
Ms. Marvi, in her welcome remarks, stated that Pakistan attaches
high priority to its relations with Russia. The younger generation of
politicians in Pakistan realizes the time lost in forging deeper ties with
Russia. It desires that imbalance created in the Cold War days be fixed
immediately and Pak-Russia strategic partnership takes central stage. It also
desires to forge a long-term and multidimensional partnership with Russia which
would contribute towards promoting peace, stability and regional cooperation in
South, Central and West Asian regions. Talking on the peaceful use of nuclear
energy, Ms. Memon said that Pakistan has taken extensive measures to strengthen
nuclear safety and security and Pakistan’s participation in NSG reflects our
strong support for international non-proliferation regime. While referring to
the regional peace and stability, the Minister said that India is advancing US
agenda in Afghanistan causing instability in the region. Moreover, India is
creating disturbance on LOC through cross border firing with the sole aim of
deviating world’s attention from Kashmir issue.
The two sides agreed on frequent parliamentary and cultural
exchanges which would help both sides to enhance bilateral cooperation on every
front.
*****
PREVIOUS NEXT
