Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthening bilateral ties and expanding cooperation across multiple sectors. The leaders met in Beijing during their visit for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Heads of State summit.
PM Shehbaz highlighted the significant progress in Pakistan-Russia relations over recent years, attributing it to President Putin’s personal dedication and engagement. He emphasized Pakistan’s resolve to deepen these relations, noting that high-level delegation exchanges and signed protocols had already advanced collaboration in agriculture, iron, steel, energy, and transport. He also underscored the strategic importance of the trade corridor connecting Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, stressing that it would enhance regional connectivity and economic prosperity.
The prime minister expressed gratitude for Russia’s support of Pakistan, framing it as a stabilizing factor in the region, while acknowledging Russia’s strong ties with India. He assured that Pakistan sought a complementary and mutually beneficial partnership that would contribute to regional progress. PM Shehbaz also accepted President Putin’s invitation to attend the SCO Heads of Government Summit in November.
President Putin, in turn, described Pakistan as a traditional and valued partner in Asia, highlighting the shared commitment to intensifying bilateral relations. He stressed the need to boost trade between the two nations and extended condolences for the recent natural disasters and flooding in Pakistan. Putin expressed confidence in Pakistan’s ability to overcome such challenges under its current leadership and noted ongoing cooperation at inter-parliamentary levels and through the United Nations framework.
Prior to the meeting, PM Shehbaz praised Putin’s leadership and their joint efforts to promote bilateral cooperation following last year’s SCO summit in Astana. He highlighted that Pakistan-Russia trade had recently increased, particularly due to Pakistan’s oil imports from Russia, and reaffirmed both sides’ determination to continue expanding collaboration in commerce and trade.
Separately, PM Shehbaz met with Tajikistan’s president, where both leaders expressed satisfaction with ongoing bilateral cooperation. They agreed to enhance collaboration across trade, investment, connectivity, energy, regional security, culture, and people-to-people exchanges. The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen relations grounded in shared cultural, historical, and religious ties and exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual concern.
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