ISLAMABAD: Defense Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan said Pakistan’s relations with Russia had improved considerably when he met the federation’s Minister for Industry and Trade Denis Manturov on Friday on the sidelines of the 7th Moscow Conference on International Security.
They stressed their commitment to implementing their countries’ agreement on the North-South Gas Pipeline Project, signed in Islamabad in October 2015.
The two officials are co-chairmen of the Pakistan-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission (IGC) on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation. Pakistan’s ambassador to Russia, Khalilullah Qazi, was also present during the meeting.
The defense minister stressed that Pakistan attached great importance to its relations with Russia.
According to details shared by Pakistan’s Ministry of Defense, Khan noted that bilateral relations have improved substantively since 2013. He also noted that bilateral trade was growing and had great potential to rise further.
Manturov observed that the Inter-Governmental Commission provided a good platform for periodic high-level meetings and underlined that further deepening of cooperation between Russia and Pakistan would be helpful in promoting peace and stability in the region.
The two ministers noted the progress made on decisions taken during the fifth meeting of the Pakistan-Russia IGC in Moscow in November 2017 and agreed to further enhance cooperation in trade, energy, defense, science and technology, agriculture, education, health and information technology.
Manturov assured Khan that a Russian delegation would visit Pakistan in the near future to expedite implementation of the project.
