News
Friday, May 13, 2011
Russia, Pakistan vow common front against terrorism* Both countries agree to promote trade and investment and pursue joint projects in energy and infrastructure development
MOSCOW: Pakistan and Russia on Thursday pledged to promote trade ties and coordinate efforts to fight terror. President Asif Ali Zardari and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev signed a joint statement after a meeting at the Kremlin calling for broader political and economic ties to promote trade, investment and pursue joint projects particularly in the energy, infrastructure development, agriculture sectors and metal industry.
“We are interested in coordinating our efforts on the international arena. It is obvious that our countries are facing absolutely the same threat, I mean international terrorism,” the Russian president told President Zardari who is on his three-day visit to Russia at the former’s invitation.
“We have to do everything so that we could jointly counter this main evil of the 21st century,” Medvedev said.
President Zardari – first Pakistan leader to visit Russia officially in the last 37 years after the fall of Soviet Union – expressed hope his historic visit would help deepen ties between the two countries which share a complicated history. “Our countries are very close neighbours. We are located in the same region. And although we do not share borders our hearts beat in unison,” said Zardari.
“The time has come to acknowledge the importance of our countries for each other and the importance of regional cooperation and to also ramp up economic and political joint work,” he said. Russia also discussed Pakistan’s involvement in a pipeline from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, and expressed interest in helping it modernise Pakistan Steel Mills in Karachi and developing gas fields.
The two sides welcomed the signing of the agreement on air transport as well as the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources of Pakistan and the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation in energy cooperation and cooperation in the agriculture sector.
Earlier, President Zardari and President Medvedev held a one-on-one meeting followed by delegations level talks. Both leaders discussed bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest and concern.
Zardari and Medvedev emphasised the importance of developing mutually beneficial economic cooperation between the two countries, which is to be promoted by the Pakistani Russian Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation that held its first meeting in Moscow in September 2010.
Discussing regional issues, the two presidents underscored the importance of stability and peace in Afghanistan and reaffirmed their support for Afghan-led and Afghan owned efforts towards promoting national reconciliation in Afghanistan.
The presidents underlined the importance of joint efforts to fight terrorism and narco-crimes, posing a serious challenge to the international peace and stability. The two sides recognised the need for promoting trans-regional economic and trade cooperation and expressed keen interest in the implementation of projects related to the creation of a system to transmit electric power from Tajikistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan (CASA-1000) and a gas pipeline between Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI). agencies
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk