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Pakistan, Russia sign first ever barter trade deal at inaugural trade forum in Moscow

Pakistan, Russia sign first ever barter trade deal at inaugural trade forum in Moscow
A group photo of Pakistani and Russian delegation participating in the inaugural Pakistan-Russia Trade and Investment Forum in Mosco, Russia, on October 1, 2024. (courtesy: Pakistan mission in Moscow)
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Updated 02 October 2024
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Pakistan, Russia sign first ever barter trade deal at inaugural trade forum in Moscow

Pakistan, Russia sign first ever barter trade deal at inaugural trade forum in Moscow
  • More than 60 Pakistani and 100 Russian companies are participating in the event in the Russian capital of Moscow
  • Pakistan and Russia, once Cold War rivals, have warmed up to each other in recent years through regular interactions
Updated 02 October 2024
SAIMA SHABBIR
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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Russia have signed a first ever agreement on barter trade between the two countries, the Pakistani embassy in Moscow said on Tuesday, as a delegation of over 60 Pakistani companies participated in an inaugural Pakistan-Russia Trade and Investment Forum in Moscow.
The forum was inaugurated by Pakistan’s Ambassador to Russia Muhammad Khalid Jamali along with high-level Russian officials, including Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Alexey Gruzdev and Evgeny Fidchuk, an adviser to the Russian transport minister.
The Pakistani delegation, led by Privatization Minister Abdul Aleem Khan, attended the forum with an aim to strengthen economic ties and explore new business opportunities in Russia. According to the Pakistani embassy in Moscow, over 100 Russian companies are taking part in the forum as well.
“A significant milestone was achieved with the signing of the first-ever MoU [Memorandum of Understanding] on barter trade between Pakistan and Russia,” the Pakistani embassy told Arab News in a statement.
“The Russian company, LLC Astarta Agrotrading, and Pakistani firms, Meskay & Femtee Trading Company and National Fruit Processing Factory, entered into agreements for the exchange of goods, including chickpeas, rice, mandarins, potatoes and red lentils.”
More than 60 Pakistani companies, having a combined export value exceeding $500 million, showcased a diverse range of Pakistani products and services, including textiles, leather, sports goods, pharmaceuticals, food, agricultural products, logistics, and tourism, at the event, according to the Pakistani mission.
On the Russian side, more than 60 officials from the Industry and Trade, Agriculture, Economic Development and other ministries as well as representatives from the Russian Export Center, Federal Chamber, Moscow Chamber, regional chambers and leading associations attended the forum. Additionally, Russian banks such as MKB were present to explore potential collaborations.
Addressing the forum, Pakistani Privatization Minister Khan said the current trade volume between the two countries did not reflect their potential.
“Our desire is to enhance trade and investment,” the minister said in televised comments, adding that Pakistan constituted the 5th largest market in the world and had the most liberal trade and investment regime.
“There is a huge potential for an increase in trade between the two countries and today marks the start of new bilateral relations with Russia.”
Russian Deputy Trade and Investment Minister Gruzdev welcomed the Pakistani delegates and said this interaction would have a positive impact on bilateral relations between the two countries.
“This forum will open new avenues of trade and investment,” he added.
In his inaugural address, Pakistan’s Ambassador Jamali emphasized the forum would increase trade opportunities between Pakistan and Russia.
“Trade will benefit both countries and we already have a mechanism for road transport as we signed a road transport agreement in 2022,” he added.
Pakistan and Russia, once Cold War rivals, have warmed up to each other in recent years through regular business and trade interactions. As Islamabad seeks to enhance its role as a transit hub for landlocked economies in Central Asia, it has expressed interest in connecting with Russia through Central Asian states for bilateral trade.
Islamabad’s ties with Russia also saw significant improvement last year after Pakistan started purchasing Russian crude oil at a discount rate. The development came after geopolitical tensions almost doubled the fuel prices in Pakistan last year, forcing the South Asian country to opt for cheaper sources of fuel.
Pakistan also received its first shipment of liquified petroleum gas from Russia in September 2023, marking Islamabad’s second major Russian energy purchase.
Last month, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk arrived in Islamabad on a brief visit, seeking to expand trade and investment ties with Pakistan.

Topics: Pakistan Russia Ties

West Indies Test squad arrives in Pakistan for two-match series

West Indies Test squad arrives in Pakistan for two-match series
Updated 7 sec ago
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West Indies Test squad arrives in Pakistan for two-match series

West Indies Test squad arrives in Pakistan for two-match series
Updated 7 sec ago
Hasaan Ali Khan

ISLAMABAD: The West Indian national men’s cricket team has arrived for their first Test tour of Pakistan in 19 years, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) confirmed on Monday, during which they will play two Test matches. 

The last time the West Indies played a Test series on Pakistani soil was in November 2006, when they played three Tests. Their last away Test series against Pakistan was in the UAE in October 2016, which was selected as Pakistan’s home venue for cricket series after 2009 when a militant attack in Lahore scared away international cricket teams from touring the country. 

However, the former two-time ODI World Cup champions have toured Pakistan thrice since April 2018 — once for an ODI series in June 2022 and twice for a bilateral T20I series in April 2018 and December 2021. 

“West Indies Test squad arrives in Pakistan for the two-match series,” the PCB said in a post on X.

West Indies will play two consecutive Tests against Pakistan in Multan after a three-day match against Pakistan Shaheens from Jan. 10-12 at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. The first Test will be held from Jan. 17-21, followed by the second one from Jan. 25-29.

International cricket teams refused to play cricket in Pakistan for years after militants attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team’s bus in Lahore in 2009, wounding six players and killing two civilians and six security officials.

International cricket and its stars, however, slowly returned to playing in Pakistan as the security situation improved. The South Asian country is gearing up to host the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 from February to March next year. 

This will be Pakistan’s first ICC tournament on its home soil since 1996 when it co-hosted the ICC ODI World Cup, which Sri Lanka won. 

Topics: west indies Pakistan west indies Cricket

Pakistan-China highway remains blocked as sit-in protest against power outages enters fourth day

Pakistan-China highway remains blocked as sit-in protest against power outages enters fourth day
Updated 06 January 2025
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Pakistan-China highway remains blocked as sit-in protest against power outages enters fourth day

Pakistan-China highway remains blocked as sit-in protest against power outages enters fourth day
  • Enraged by power outages, enraged protesters demand government run thermal generators to resolve power crisis
  • Karakorum Highway is a key land route connecting Pakistan to China via Hunza in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region 
Updated 06 January 2025
Nisar Ali

KHAPLU, Gilgit-Baltistan: The main highway connecting Pakistan to China in the mountainous Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) region remained closed for trade and traffic on Monday for the fourth consecutive day, as demonstrators continued their sit-in protest against power outages that residents say last for almost 20 hours. 

The Karakoram Highway (KKH), a vital trade route between the two countries, was obstructed by protesters on Friday at Ali Abad, a significant point in the Hunza Valley. Protesters were enraged by frequent power outages in GB. The area has witnessed a gradual increase in trade activity following an agreement between Pakistan and China to keep the Khunjerab Pass open year-round to facilitate economic exchanges.

Hamid Hussain, an engineer at the Gilgit-Baltistan Water and Power Department, last week blamed technical reasons for the power outages. He said the region heavily relied on hydropower, which often faced disruption in winter due to the freezing of rivers and lakes.

Various political parties such as the Awami Workers Party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), members of the civil society and trade associations joined hands to stage the sit-in protest at the highway on Friday. Despite the freezing temperature, the sit-in protests have continued since then. 

“All rounds of negotiations with the government have failed and we are still facing the worst kind of power crisis,” Zahoor Ilahi, a member of the core committee formed by protesters, told Arab News over the phone. 

“We will not end the protest until our demands are met. Though our demands are to permanently resolve the power crisis, however, if they agree to run thermal generators to minimize power cuts, a consensus will be developed to end the protest,” he added. 

Demonstrators gather around fire during a sit-in protest in Hunza Valley of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, on January 5, 2025. (Ali Ahmad/Facebook)

GB an impoverished, mountainous part of the larger Kashmir region, is home to 127 hydel and 34 thermal stations but the region continues to suffer one of the worst power outages in the South Asian country.

Khuzaima Anwar, Hunza’s deputy commissioner, admitted the protesters’ demands were “genuine.”

“The people have been protesting for power crisis since last Friday and their demands for the long-term uplifting of power projects are genuine,” Anwar said. 

He said the district administration engaged with protesters twice since Friday and acknowledged their demands. 

“The issue is here that they are demanding we run thermal generators,” he said. “But the fuel cost will be very high and the government is not in a condition to face more liabilities.”

He said the government was also trying to negotiate with protesters, adding that members of the GB Assembly were also playing their role in ending the sit-in protest.

“Trucks and containers are stuck on both sides as the main KKH is blocked,” Anwar said. “However, there is another alternate route for miniature vehicles, and the law and order situation is under control.”

Imran Ali, former GB president, confirmed dozens of containers were stuck on both sides of the highway due to the sit-in protest. 

“Tourists are also facing issues due to road blockades,” Ali told Arab News. “The government should come forward to resolve the issue.”

Topics: Pakistan China Ties karakoram highway Gilgit-Baltistan trade

Pakistan concludes week-long anti-polio drive in southwestern province hit hardest by disease

Pakistan concludes week-long anti-polio drive in southwestern province hit hardest by disease
Updated 06 January 2025
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Pakistan concludes week-long anti-polio drive in southwestern province hit hardest by disease

Pakistan concludes week-long anti-polio drive in southwestern province hit hardest by disease
  • Pakistan to hold next polio drive in Balochistan during first week of February, says official 
  • Pakistan reported 68 polio cases last year out of which 27 were from Balochistan province
Updated 06 January 2025
Saadullah Akhtar

QUETTA: Pakistani health authorities on Monday concluded a week-long polio campaign in its southwestern Balochistan province, hit hardest by the disease, amid looming security threats to vaccinators and security forces guarding them. 

Pakistan kickstarted the polio drive on Dec. 30 to vaccinate 2.6 million children against the disease in Balochistan. Pakistan reported 68 polio cases last year out of which 27 were from Balochistan. The northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southern Sindh provinces each recorded 19 cases while the eastern Punjab province and Islamabad each reported one case.

Pakistan, along with neighboring Afghanistan, remains the last polio-endemic country in the world.

“We have achieved our set target in the last province-wide anti-polio campaign,” Dr. Aftab Kakar, the provincial team lead at the National Stop Transmission of Polio (NSTOP) program told Arab News. 

“We had set a target to vaccinate more than 2.6 million children but are gathering entry data from all districts but due to the suspension of mobile service in Quetta, some entries are pending.”

Polio is a paralyzing disease with no cure. To provide high immunity against the virus, multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five are essential.

“We are planning our next anti-polio drive in the first week of February 2025 with further training to the polio staff across Balochistan to make next drives more effective,” Kakar said. “We are very much optimistic that polio cases will decline this year because we have noticed a major decline since September and October 2024.”

Pakistan’s polio program began in 1994 but efforts to eradicate the virus have since been undermined by vaccine misinformation and opposition from some religious hard-liners, who say immunization is a foreign ploy to sterilize Muslim children or a cover for Western spies. Militant groups also frequently attack and kill members of polio vaccine teams.

On Dec. 18, provincial health authorities postponed the nationwide anti-polio drive twice due to security reasons and a boycott by health staffers. The virus killed three children, including a minor girl, in Balochistan’s Quetta, Zhob and Killa Abdullah districts last year.

In the early 1990s, the country reported around 20,000 cases annually, but in 2018, the number dropped to eight cases. Six cases were reported in 2023 and only one in 2021.

Topics: Polio Pakistan

Unidentified men shoot dead two cops in northwestern Pakistan 

Unidentified men shoot dead two cops in northwestern Pakistan 
Updated 06 January 2025
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Unidentified men shoot dead two cops in northwestern Pakistan 

Unidentified men shoot dead two cops in northwestern Pakistan 
  • Both constables were shot dead as they were arriving for duty on a motorcycle from their village, say police 
  • Such attacks, mostly claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, have been on the rise in KP province in recent months
Updated 06 January 2025
REHMAT MEHSUD

PESHAWAR: Two police constables were shot dead by unidentified men in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, a police spokesperson said, as Islamabad struggles to contain surging militancy in its Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province bordering Afghanistan.

Constable Himatullah and Constable Khan Bahadur were on their way to the police station from their village Kheru Khel Pakka on a motorcycle early Monday morning when the attack occurred, the district’s police spokesperson Shahid Marwat said. 

“On the way, both police officers were shot dead by unknown motorcycle-borne terrorists near Nawab Khan Ziarat within the limits of Ghazni Khel police station,” Marwat said. 

Such attacks against security forces and police officers have been on the rise in KP in recent months, with most claimed by Pakistan’s indigenous Taliban movement, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and other militant groups that target security forces’ convoys and check posts and carry out daily targeted killings and kidnappings of law enforcers and government officials.

Pakistan has frequently accused neighboring Afghanistan of sheltering and supporting militant groups like the TTP, urging the administration there to prevent its territory from being used by armed factions to launch cross-border attacks.

The Afghan Taliban deny the charge, insisting Pakistan’s security issues are an internal matter.

Topics: Pakistan Militancy

Pakistan court to announce £190 million bribe case verdict against Imran Khan on Jan. 13

Pakistan court to announce £190 million bribe case verdict against Imran Khan on Jan. 13
Updated 06 January 2025
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Pakistan court to announce £190 million bribe case verdict against Imran Khan on Jan. 13

Pakistan court to announce £190 million bribe case verdict against Imran Khan on Jan. 13
  • Khan, wife are accused of receiving land worth millions of dollars as bribe from real estate tycoon in exchange for favor
  • Khan’s PTI party says delay in announcing verdict against former premier “questions legitimacy of merits of trial”
Updated 06 January 2025
Shahjahan Khurram

ISLAMABAD: An Islamabad accountability court will announce the verdict in a case involving former prime minister Imran Khan and his third wife Bushra Khan, in which they are accused of receiving land worth millions of dollars as bribe from a real estate tycoon through the Al-Qadir Trust, on Jan. 13, his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said on Monday. 

The charitable trust was set up by Khan and his third wife Bushra Khan in 2018 when still in office. Pakistani authorities have accused Khan and Bushra of receiving the land, worth up to 7 billion rupees ($25 million), from a property developer charged in Britain with money laundering.

Authorities accused Khan of getting the land in exchange for a favor to the property developer by using 190 million pounds repatriated by Britain in the money laundering probe to pay fines levied by a court against the developer. Khan’s aides have previously said that the land was donated to the trust for charitable purposes. The real estate developer has also denied any wrongdoing.

This is the second time the announcement of the verdict has been deferred. It was supposed to be announced on Dec. 23 but was delayed to Jan. 6. 

“Decision on Alaqadir Trust case postponed till 13th January, communicated by judicial staff to the Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s legal team,” the PTI said in a message circulated among the media. 

Khan’s party said the delay “questions the legitimacy of the merits of the trial,” alleging that it was conducted based on “phony evidence” to keep Khan in prison. 

Pakistani news website Geo.tv reported that the decision was deferred as the judge, Nasir Javed Rana, was on leave. 

Khan, who has been in jail since August 2023 in a slew of cases, had also become a beneficiary of the restored amendments, his party said after the ruling, arguing that he could now move the courts for acquittal in at least two major corruption cases, namely the land bribe case and an investigation involving the illegal sale of state gifts while he was PM.

Since his ouster from office, the former prime minister has led a campaign of unprecedented defiance against the country’s powerful military, accusing them of colluding with his rivals to orchestrate his removal. 

The military has denied Khan’s allegations and insisted strongly it does not interfere in politics. 

Topics: Imran Khan PTI £190 million bribe case Al-Qadir Trust

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