Asif leaves for Moscow at Lavrov’s invitation

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif Monday left for Moscow on a four-day visit at the invitation of his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

The visit comes at a time when the two countries are celebrating the 70th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations.

Afghanistan and bilateral military technical cooperation with Russia will be high on the agenda, with the Foreign Office commenting that the government wanted to see the “translating political good will into a substantive and multidimensional partnership”.

Growing Pak-Russia ties were evident when in spite of resistance from the Modi government after the 2016 Uri attack (for which Pakistan was blamed), Moscow did not cancel its first ever joint military exercises with Pakistan.

Asif has earlier worked closely with key Russian officials in the security establishment during his tenure as defense minister and visited Moscow in this capacity where in 2016 he attended an international security conference.

Moscow has been consistent in its support for Pakistan in the face of President Trump’s announcement of his South Asia Strategy and later his famous New Year Tweet in which he took down Pakistan for its policies against terrorism and militancy.

At the time Moscow criticised the US position on Pakistan and insisted that Pakistan’s importance for peace in Afghanistan and its sacrifices in the fight against terrorism need to be recognized.

Asif had specially visited Moscow late last year to present Pakistan’s case in the face of an extremely discriminatory US policy. Earlier, Russian President’s Envoy to Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov said Pakistan was “a key regional player to negotiate with” and warned that undue pressure on it could “seriously destabilise the region’s security situation”.

Afghanistan will be an important issue to be discussed between the two sides where last September Khawaja had clearly told Lavrov that, “Russia should lead the process to bring stability to Afghanistan”, while Lavrov suggested that the existing Intergovernmental Commission should explore concrete measures for enhancing trade, investment and energy connectivity between Russia and Pakistan.

“Russia enjoys a special place in our foreign policy. Relations between the two countries have been growing steadily in all fields. The two sides would deliberate upon the entire spectrum of bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues of mutual interest”, Foreign Office spokesman announced.

Asif’s visit follows an earlier visit by Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua in October 2017, where she reiterated Pakistan’s call for making serious efforts for a negotiated settlement between the Afghan government and the Taliban for achieving a lasting peace in the war-torn country.

Ms Janjua was participating in the meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Contact Group on Afghanistan held at the deputy foreign minister-level in Moscow.

“The visit would provide an opportunity to explore ways and means to further strengthen cooperation in political, economic, trade and investment, defence, education and cultural fields”, the spokesman commented.

He said regular high level exchanges between the two countries in the last few years was a manifestation of mutual desire of both sides for translating political good will into a substantive and multidimensional partnership.

The foreign minister last met with his Russian counterpart in New York on the sidelines of the 2017 UN General Assembly session.

Discussions at the time focused on Afghanistan and measures Pakistan has taken under the border management while safeguarding its sovereignty.

Important was the fact that both foreign ministers discussed mutual efforts for strengthening of Pakistan-Russia relations and the prevailing international and regional security situation.