Pakistan, Russia promises to strengthen links in the key sectors

Islamabad:

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Russian President Vladimir Putin held an important meeting on Tuesday in Beijing before the next events in China. The two leaders have undertaken to strengthen bilateral relations through trade, energy and regional connectivity.

Shehbaz has congratulated Putin’s role in promoting closer relationships, saying: “Relations between the two countries have improved in recent years on the basis of mutual interests.”

The Prime Minister specifically mentioned that after his previous meeting at the top of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the two parties agreed to improve the visits to the delegations. The two countries have also signed new protocols in key sectors, including agriculture, iron, steel, energy and transport. »»

Shehbaz stressed the importance of a commercial corridor proposed connecting Bélarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan, saying that this would stimulate regional prosperity. He added: “Pakistan respects the bonds of the Russian Federation with India, but we also want to establish very strong relationships.”

It can be mentioned that Pakistan imported Russian oil last year which remarkably strengthened bilateral commercial volumes. Shehbaz has expressed his confidence that business ties would continue to develop.

“Together, the two countries would make new efforts to promote bilateral links and cooperation, in particular in trade and trade,” he said.

Putin said Moscow has evaluated its long -standing partnership with Islamabad. “Pakistan has always been our traditional partner in Asia and we cherish these links,” he said.

The Russian president also exercised condolences on lost lives during recent natural disasters in Pakistan, expressing the optimism that the country would overcome the challenges.

The leaders discussed cooperation at the inter-parliamentary level and within the United Nations, where Pakistan is a member of the non-permanent Security Council.

Putin invited Shehbaz to attend the SCO Heads Summit in Russia in November, to whom the Prime Minister replied by saying: “He is looking forward to the visit.”

Earlier, during a meeting at the Great Salle of the People of Beijing, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chinese President Xi Jinping reaffirmed their commitment to the Chine-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and agreed to advance its next phase through five new corridors aimed at expanding cooperation in the main economic sectors.

The two leaders stressed that the Pakistani-Chinese partnership was unique and unprecedented and agreed that this link should be reflected by increased cooperation in several areas.

Prime Minister Shehbaz has reaffirmed the desire to continue working in close collaboration with the successful implementation of the next improved CPEC phase, calling the project a flagship product of the Belt and Road initiative of President XI (BRI).

Shehbaz appreciated China’s unwavering support for territorial integrity, sovereignty and socio-economic development of Pakistan and said that CPEC would help the two nations to build an even stronger Pakistani-Chinese community with a common future.

President XI assured the Prime Minister that China would continue to help Pakistan in all areas of economic growth and development, especially since the second phase of the current CPEC.

Prime Minister Shehbaz reached Tianjin on Saturday to attend the Summit of the Council of Heads of State (CHS), which was held from August 31 to September 1.

One day earlier, Shehbaz Sharif underlined the issue of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) at the top of the Cooperation Organization (SCO) in China and called for “dialogue, diplomacy and consultation” instead of confrontation on all disputes in progress.

In addition to Pakistan, SCO includes China, India, Russia, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Tadjikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Belarus. 16 other countries are affiliated with the organization as an observer or “dialogue partners”.

“We respect all international and bilateral treaties and we expect similar principles to be followed by all OCS members,” said Shehbaz while the summit ended, referring to the unilateral decision of India to take the pending TPI in April.

Read: XI offers the global governance initiative while Sco Summit starts

“The uninterrupted access to the share of maturity of the water according to the existing treaties between the members of the OSS will strengthen the OCS and will support the achievement of wider objectives for which the OCS has been established,” he said. “We are looking for normal and stable relations with all our neighbors, guided by dialogue and diplomacy, consultation on confrontation.”