Vladimir Putin was informed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday that Moscow and Islamabad’s relationship was independent and that more work needed to be done to strengthen the two countries’ partnership.
“Our relations stand on our own strength, neither our relations are driven by any geopolitical contingency nor are these impacted by our relations with other countries,” stated the prime minister.
The premier is now in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Heads of State and SCO plus twin summits.
In order to increase barter trade between Pakistan and Russia, Prime Minister Shehbaz emphasized the necessity to resolve financial and other banking concerns.
He mentioned that Pakistan and Russia have a long history of commercial ties during his exclusive meeting with the Russian president today.
He noted that Pakistan used to engage in a barter economy where it would purchase large amounts of products and machinery from Russia and export leather and textile goods.
The prime minister went on to say that the two nations can definitely increase their current one billion dollar commerce. This was reported by Radio Pakistan.
Additionally, he expressed his gratitude to the Russian president for granting his desire to advance energy-related cooperation. He continued by saying that Pakistan has received a cargo of oil from Russia and that more progress must be made in this regard.
Regarding the two nations’ bilateral relations, PM Shehbaz stated that they are very comforted by the fact that these ties have been improving over the past few years.
