Russian Deputy PM Alexei Overchuk to visit Islamabad on Sept 18

Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk will reach Pakistan on a two-day visit from September 18 to 19, the Foreign Office said in a statement on Tuesday.

The FO said that the Deputy PM will be leading a high-level delegation and will meet President Asif Ali Zardari, PM Shehbaz Sharif and his counterpart Ishaq Dar during his visit.

Deputy PM Overchuk's visit comes as both countries, as The News reported last month, were considering Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) transactions in future.

Russia, the publication said citing a senior official at the Ministry of Energy, had communicated that its LNG export terminals would get ready in 2026 for gas trade with Pakistan in light of the fact that the price re-opening clause with Qatar under two long-term agreements under government-to-government arrangements would be invoked in 2026.

As PM Shehbaz-led coalition government strives to tackle various challenges, notably on the economic front, it would be interesting to see what the Russian deputy PM's visit might entail.

Earlier in the month, the Ministry of Industries and Production submitted a report to the National Assembly saying that the country was considering establishing a new steel mill following a meeting between Russian officials and President Zardari in April wherein the former offered assistance with regard to the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) — established via Moscow's assistance.

Russian Consul General Andrey Viktorovich Fedorov, in July, had also offered Moscow's help to Islamabad in reviving the steel mills.

Furthermore, an official informed the subcommittee that a Russian delegation was due to visit the country to discuss the establishment of a state-of-the-art steel mill on the existing site of the PSM.

PM Shehbaz had also met Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Heads of State meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan in July wherein the former underscored the need to bolster bilateral cooperation in various sectors

Pakistan has hosted various senior officials of various countries in recent months including Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev's two-day official visit in July.

Before that, late Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi had also arrived in the country on a three-day visit in April.