PAKISTAN and Russia have agreed to take forward the im portant bilateral agenda and close cooperation in the regional context. In a telephonic conversation with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi underlined that Pakistan considers Russia an important partner and desires to forge a long-term and multi-dimensional partnership with Russia. The two Foreign Ministers discussed matters of mutual interest, including the COVID-19 pandemic, cooperation at the multilateral fora, prospects of enhanced bilateral cooperation and regional issues were discussed. The contact was essentially in the backdrop of the challenges thrown by Covid-19 but what transpired during the conversation is encouraging for cementing the overall bilateral relations. At the moment, there are two priority concerns for Pakistan – sensitize the international community about grave human rights situation in Occupied Kashmir which is under strict lockdown for the last one year and supplements its strategy to tackle the situation arising out of Coronavirus with the help of friendly countries. It is appreciable that there was a positive response from the Russian side on both the issues. The Foreign Minister apprised his Russian counterpart of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s call for “Global Initiative on Debt Relief” for developing countries, emphasizing the need for coordinated and comprehensive actions to create fiscal space needed by the developing world to deal with the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19. The Russian Foreign Minister expressed support for debt relief initiative and assured to play a positive role. On Kashmir also the Russian side showed understanding of Pakistan’s concern and point of view. The response of the Russian side was reflective of the desire of Moscow to consolidate ties with Pakistan in different areas for which Russia has repeatedly been offering assistance. We hope that practical steps would be taken to strengthen economic cooperation by the two sides for their mutual benefit.
