In Moscow, Prime Minister Imran Khan meets Russian President Vladimir Putin.
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, where the two leaders discussed bilateral ties and other topics of importance.
The three-hour meeting takes place in the midst of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. PM Imran Khan also spoke on economic cooperation, just hours after a number of Western countries imposed further sanctions on Russia for its military presence in eastern Ukraine.
The two presidents discussed a wide range of bilateral issues, including economic and energy cooperation, especially the Pakistan Stream gas pipeline. The regional situation, as well as Ukraine’s evolving circumstances, was also discussed.
“Both presidents reviewed the major issues of bilateral cooperation and exchanged perspectives on current regional concerns, especially developments in South Asia,” according to the Kremlin’s brief statement.
President Putin greeted Prime Minister Imran Khan cordially upon his arrival at the Kremlin, the Russian Federation’s executive headquarters. This is the first bilateral visit by a Pakistani prime minister to Russia in 23 years, and it is being hailed as a watershed moment in the two nations’ ties.
Prime Minister Imran Khan arrived in Moscow yesterday for a two-day official visit, where he was greeted by Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister and given a guard of honour at the airport.
Federal ministers Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, Asad Umar, and Hammad Azhar, as well as Commerce Advisor Abdur Razzak Dawood, National Security Advisor Moeed Yusuf, and MNA Amir Mahmood Kiyani, joined the prime minister.
Meeting between Qureshi and Lavrov
Separately, in the midst of the Moscow-Kyiv dispute, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and his Russian colleague Sergey Lavrov addressed crucial regional and global concerns.
Pakistan and Russia reiterated their resolve to deepen bilateral relations during the meeting, with FM Qureshi assuring his Russian colleague that Islamabad values its partnership with Moscow.
“Bilateral relations between Pakistan and Russia are of particular significance to Pakistan […] relations between Pakistan and Russia have increasingly developed,” FM Qureshi remarked at the event.
Under Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision, Pakistan is pursuing an agenda of advancing economic goals and regional connections, according to the foreign minister.
The two presidents talked about critical regional and global concerns, including bilateral ties and how to further collaboration in mutually beneficial sectors.
Later, Lavrov complimented FM Qureshi and Pakistani leadership on the successful conclusion of the emergency Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) session on Afghanistan. The Russian foreign minister also conveyed his best wishes for next month’s OIC Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Islamabad.
