Pakistan Ambassador to Russia lauds President’s visit.
Musharraf’s Russia visit fruitful, says envoy
MOSCOW, Feb 7: The country’s ambassador to Russia, Syed Iftikhar Murshid has described President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s visit to Russia as ‘successful’ and said it would yield positive results.
Speaking to Pakistani newsmen who covered the visit, the ambassador said **President Musharraf and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, struck a personal rapport and were together for five-and-a-half hours.
“Putin has never been that long with any visiting dignitary and the fact that the one-to-one meeting with Gen Musharraf was extended to two hours and 15 minutes from the original one hour clearly shows the interest of the Russian President in embarking upon new friendship with Pakistan,”** he said.
He said the ***four memoranda of understanding signed during the visit would help further the ties between the countries and ensure greater understanding. He specially mentioned the MoU signed for the expansion and modernization of Pakistan Steel Mills. ***
The ambassador noted that the visit, the first in 33 years, has laid the groundwork for better ties between the countries. “Of course, in three days we cannot expect spectacular results but at least the mindset has been dismantled and the two countries can now move ahead with renewed determination to consolidate their ties,” he said.
He reiterated that President Putin was in a position to push for dialogue between Pakistan and India on the solution of all outstanding problems between them.
Mr Murshid said Russia and Pakistan had come to some understanding on defence issues. He said the visit would lead to the opening of a new chapter in relations between the countries.
Another editorial of Musharraf’s landmark visit to Russia.
Ties with Russia: A new beginning
**President Pervez Musharraf’s three-day visit to Russia has ended on a positive note, with both sides affirming their resolve to effect an all-round improvement in their bilateral relations. The joint statement issued on Thursday is comprehensive. It covers, besides geopolitical issues, many economic, cultural and scientific areas where the two countries seem keen to cooperate.
The two sides have also signed several agreements on cultural cooperation and oil and gas exploration. But the most important one is a memorandum of understanding for the expansion, balancing and modernization of the Pakistan Steel at a cost of $ 100 million. This is in the fitness of things, because it was Russia which helped Pakistan establish its first steel mills. **
The agreements show, in the words of President Musharraf, the desire of the two countries to bury the “bad things” and revive and reinforce the **“good things.” The joint communique also notes the help Russia has given to Pakistan in its space programme, especially Moscow’s technical assistance in launching Badr-2 communications satellite. **
*Other areas where the two sides are keen to collaborate include narcotics control, debt restructuring, banking, giving each other the most-favoured nation treatment in trade and investment, and a review of the existing joint commissions. *
The joint communique adopts a middle course, stressing the importance of resumption of talks while expecting all relevant parties to create a favourable climate for that purpose. **President Musharraf seems to have shown an understanding of the Russian position when he told newsmen that he did not expect an improvement in relations between the two countries at the expense of Moscow’s relations with another country. This is a realistic view. What Pakistan needs is an improvement in relations with Russia so as to remove the misunderstandings of the past and start a new phase of friendly relations between the two countries. **
The joint statement notes that Russia supports the Kabul Declaration of last December which Pakistan and some of Afghanistan’s other neighbours signed, pledging non-interference in its internal affairs. This means that both Islamabad and Moscow are interested in lending support to the Karzai regime to see Afghanistan through the transition to a constitutional set-up.
The joint communique is basically a statement of intent. The agreement on specific issues is as important as the desire it reflects on the part of the two countries to forge a new relationship. A key sentence affirms the two countries’ “intention to cooperate closely in bilateral and international forums on strategic stability.” *This by any standard is a good beginning. One hopes the two sides will continue to pursue their shared aims and concerns in a spirit of harmony, friendship and understanding. *
