Putin hails growing 'mutually beneficial' Russia–Pakistan partnership
From Right to Left , Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin, Ambassador, Faisal Niaz Tirmizi and FM Sergey Lavrov. PHOTO: Embassy of Russian in Pakistan Sergey Lavrov
Russian President Vladimir Putin has hailed growing relations between his country and Pakistan as "mutually beneficial" with cooperation expanding across sectors.
Pakistan's Ambassador to Russia Faisal Niaz Tirmizi formally presented his credentials to the Russian president during a ceremony held on Thursday at the Grand Kremlin Palace.
The X account of the Russian Embassy in Pakistan quoted Putin as saying on the occasion: "We are continuing close cooperation with Pakistan. Pakistan is a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which is the region's largest regional organisation in terms of economic, technical, and human resources. Russia-Pakistan relations are mutually beneficial in the truest sense."
Ambassador Tirmizi conveyed greetings from the president, prime minister and people of Pakistan to President Putin during the ceremony.
🇷🇺🇵🇰 President Vladimir Putin on Russia-Pakistan relations:
"We maintain close cooperation with Pakistan, a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the largest regional organisation in terms of economic, technological, and human potential. Russia-Pakistan relations… pic.twitter.com/H5ahLv5JB2Putin, while terming Pakistan as a close partner of Russia, noted with appreciation that cooperation between the two countries was expanding especially in the fields of trade, diplomacy, commerce, education, agriculture, pharmaceutical, railways, industry, health and IT.
Ambassador Tirmizi officially assumed charge of the Mission in Moscow in October last year. The ambassador's tenure will focus on scaling Pakistan-Russia bilateral cooperation across all areas of mutual interest, specifically in the fields of energy, trade, connectivity, culture, education and promoting people-to-people contact. He also places a high priority on engaging with and supporting the Pakistani diaspora across the Russian Federation.
In past few years, Pakistan and Russia have strengthened economic ties by mutual benefits. When Moscow turned towards new energy markets after sanctions due to Ukraine war, Islamabad also contacted Moscow for affordable fuel sources.
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In 2024, the government sought multi-billion dollar agreement with Russia for the construction of a liquefied natural gas pipeline.
In December, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said Pakistan was in talks with Russia on a potential oil-sector agreement, with discussions underway between the energy ministries of both countries.
Russia is also interested in exploring the banking sector in Pakistan with Russian Ambassador Albert P Khorev saying last month that the purpose was to reduce reliance on Western payment networks.