Pakistan PM Imran Khan to embark on two-day visit to Russia this week

Islamabad: Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to Russia would prove to be a “game-changer” and “open new avenues of cooperation,” according to officials in Islamabad. This will be the first such high-level visit by a Pakistani premier to Russia in over two decades.

Khan will visit Moscow on February 23-24 at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistan foreign office confirmed on Monday. PM Khan will be accompanied by a high-level delegation and the bilateral summit will be the highlight of the visit, according to the ministry of foreign affairs.

During the summit meeting, the two leaders will review the entire array of bilateral relations including energy cooperation. They will also have a wide-ranging exchange of views on major regional and international issues, including Islamophobia and the Afghanistan situation.

Pakistani premier’s visit comes amid spiralling Russia-Ukraine conflict and diplomatic efforts to defuse tensions. However, Pakistani officials are optimistic that PM Khan’s visit would help build a new partnership with Russia. “The visit will open new avenues of cooperation” for both countries as “our relations with Russia have gradually improved,” Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said. Russia visit comes after Imran Khan’s “successful visit” to Beijing, strengthening Pakistan’s ties with regional powers, analysts said.

Economic partnership

Pakistan and Russia have recently announced initiatives to enhance trade cooperation as Moscow aspires to expand its economic footprint in Asia and Islamabad is looking for energy suppliers to meet its economic goals. Bilateral trade between Pakistan and Russia witnessed an increase hitting an all-time high of $790 million in 2020.

The two countries recently agreed to develop cooperation in economic, energy, defence, industrial modernisation, railways and aviation, science and technology. Islamabad and Moscow have also signed a strategic venture called the Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline project. The 1,100-km-long gas pipeline will secure the delivery of 16 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually from LNG terminals in Karachi and Gwadar with those in Lahore. The $2.5 billion project is expected to be completed by 2023.

Business community optimistic

The business community is hopeful that Pakistani premier’s visit to Moscow would open up new opportunities and benefit both sides. “Pakistan provides an open route to Russia and access to markets in the Middle East and Southeast Asia through the Arabian Sea,” Gohar Zia, director of Maxtelz Logistics, told Gulf News.

“With free trade zones at key locations and modern infrastructure for bonded storage in Karachi and Gwadar ports, Pakistan is on its way to becoming a hub for logistics and supply chain, which offers huge benefits to its trading partners.”

Railway link would be crucial to boost connectivity and economic development, he said, citing the Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul (ITI) which recently resumed operations after a decade. Zia urged the officials in Islamabad and Moscow to consider the “launch of a rail freight service connecting Russia with Pakistan through Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Iran, under a multimodal transportation approach, which will cut transit time to 10 days instead of 45 days via sea.”

“New chapter” in Pakistan-Russia ties

Pakistan and Russia renewed efforts to deepen ties and began a “new chapter” after the visit of Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov to Islamabad in April 2021 - the first by a Russian foreign minister in nearly a decade. Islamabad-Moscow security partnership is growing since 2014 when the two signed a defence cooperation agreement. The two countries have gradually expanded military cooperation with military exercises and exchanges. Pakistan and Russia also share an identical approach on Afghanistan to curb the threat of terrorism.