Latest news with #RussiaPakistan
Arab News
02-07-2025
- Business
- Arab News
‘Business must cooperate': Russia seeks to double $1.8 billion trade with Pakistan
KARACHI: Russia seeks to double the volume of its bilateral trade with Pakistan, Russian Consul-General Andrey V. Federov said this week, amid a thaw in Moscow-Islamabad ties. Russia and Pakistan, once Cold War rivals, have strengthened ties in recent years, with Islamabad purchasing discounted Russian crude oil and liquefied petroleum gas in 2023 and Moscow now planning to build a new steel mill in Karachi. The two countries traded goods and services worth $236 million from July 2024 till May 2025, compared with $1.04 billion in the same period last year, according to Pakistani central bank data. The volume of their trade rose more than 100 percent to $1.81 billion from July 2023 till June 2024, when Pakistan was facing dollar shortages and imported discounted crude oil from Russia, marking a shift from its traditional reliance on Middle Eastern suppliers. In an interview with Arab News, Federov said this volume can be boosted as the two countries have started implementing the decisions of the 9th meeting of Russia-Pakistan Intergovernmental Commission, held in December, in which they agreed on a protocol for cooperation in the fields of trade, finance, energy, industry and agriculture, transport and infrastructure, business and finance, and science and technology. 'In last five years it (bilateral trade) was duplicated. Now we have one billion US dollars [of trade volume],' the Russian consul-general said, adding that the Russia-Pakistan trade turnover had showed 50 percent growth in the last five years. 'My idea [is] that we can duplicate it once again during my staying here in Karachi.' Federov didn't say when his term is going to end. Moscow could provide machinery, fertilizers, oil and gas, and some lentils and grains as part of agricultural exchange with Pakistan, according to the diplomat. Islamabad could in return supply sports goods, surgical instruments, textiles, pharmacy and kinnows that are 'very, very famous' in Russia. 'Some of the Russian leading agriculture companies are ready to work with Pakistan,' he said. 'There are a lot of things... we can exchange.' Federov said Moscow and Islamabad were working to 'create a bridge' which would stand for decades and that the bilateral trade would be sustained. 'It won't be affected by any political issues. Business must cooperate. Sorry for using this word must, but I insist that business must cooperate,' he said. Another area in which Moscow could help Pakistan was information technology (IT), according to the diplomat. Russia has a very good experience in information security, smart cities and e-government that make life of people much easier. Pakistan's National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) could also assist Russia in data documentation as the South Asian had a 'very good experience in this sphere.' 'World is not easy right now, and there are, as I said, a lot of spheres. We can share our experience and Pakistan also,' Federov said. 'We were together.' Besides economy and trade, Russia and Pakistan saw their interests converging on the issue of last month's Iran-Israel conflict. Together with China, the two countries co-sponsored a resolution in the United Nations, calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East after the conflict killed hundreds on both sides. 'We were together the cosponsors of the UN resolution on Iran situation,' the Russian envoy said. 'Our relations are very close, and we are working hard on many international issues together.' Putin last month interacted with the leaders of Iran, Israel and Pakistan to end the conflict. 'Maybe some, some of the countries are not satisfied with our role, and they want to take part of one side or another side,' the consul-general said, in an apparent reference to the United States (US) which sided with Israel and bombed Iran's nuclear facilities on June 22 before announcing a ceasefire. Federov said Moscow was 'not satisfied' with Israel's behavior in the region. 'But, also, I should say that we have good contacts also not only with Iran and Pakistan. We have good contacts with Israel,' he said. 'We do not break our relations with Israel.' Pakistan and Russia are members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a Eurasian political, economic and security organization, and have had sustained high-level interactions and institutional mechanisms. Federov said the top leadership of Pakistan and Russia had been actively interacting at different international diplomatic forums almost every year. 'Both sides realized that we cannot live without [support from] each other,' he said. Asked about Putin's long-pending visit to Pakistan, Federov said: 'We are all working on that, but we do not know the plans of the president.'
Arab News
01-07-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Russia eyes summer deal with Pakistan for new Karachi steel mill — consul-general
KARACHI: Russia expects to finalize an agreement with Pakistan this summer to build a new steel mill in Karachi, Consul-General Andrey V. Fedorov said on Monday, the first time a Russian official has publicly confirmed the planned project. The new project will mark the revival of Cold War-era industrial cooperation as Islamabad seeks fresh foreign investment and closer ties with Moscow. The Soviet Union built the original Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) in Karachi in the 1970s as the country's flagship state-run industrial complex. Once a symbol of national self-sufficiency, PSM has remained dormant since 2015 due to years of mismanagement, political interference and financial decline. By the end of fiscal year 2024, the mill had posted cumulative losses of Rs255.8 billion ($902 million), with liabilities reaching Rs359.9 billion ($1.27 billion). Despite being non-operational, it still employs more than 3,500 workers. Now, Russian and Pakistani officials are engaged in technical and diplomatic discussions to finalize the framework for a new steel mill. Technical experts from Russia have already inspected the proposed site in Karachi, and another team is expected shortly to advance planning and draft a detailed roadmap. 'The last negotiations were on May 27, so we are working on the final agreement,' Fedorov told Arab News in an interview when asked about the status of the new steel deal. 'Our technical experts examined the facility, so maybe one more team would come soon, just to fix out all the preparations and some of the proposals are on the tables, both of Russian and Pakistani sides … We are ready to prepare a roadmap for the constructions of a new steel mill in Karachi.' Fedorov declined to put a date on when construction would begin but said the teams had discussed a summer deal: 'They were discussing summer, you know, we are in the beginning of summer, so I hope this summer they would come … We would see in nearest time some positive conclusions and we will reach some agreements.' The envoy did not share the volume of investment Russia would look to make in the project but said the two sides would be working together now to prepare 'mutually beneficial contracts and agreements.' 'Practically, a new factory must be erected,' he said. 'Now we should, on the level of experts, discuss that.' PAKISTAN STREAM GAS PIPELINE PROJECT Russia has also built other major industrial facilities in Pakistan, including the Guddu Power Station in Sindh in the 1980s, one of the country's largest electricity sources. Moscow and Islamabad have expanded cooperation in recent years despite geopolitical tensions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Both countries are exploring deeper energy ties, oil and gas supplies, and even tabled a trilateral Russia-Pakistan-China resolution in the UN Security Council last month, seeking a ceasefire in the Middle East. Pakistan, a net energy importer, relies on foreign petroleum and LNG supplies to meet domestic demand. Last year, Islamabad received its first-ever shipment of discounted Russian crude oil, marking a shift from its traditional reliance on Middle Eastern suppliers. Pakistan's local gas reserves are fast depleting. It imported over $4 billion worth of liquefied petroleum and natural gas through May last fiscal year and $4.7 billion in LNG and LPG imports the year earlier (FY24), mostly from Qatar. Russia and Pakistan also held the ninth meeting of their intergovernmental commission on trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation in December and agreed to move ahead with the long-delayed Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline project. The pipeline, signed in 2015 but delayed for years, aims to transport imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Karachi to Pakistan's Punjab province and other energy-deficient regions. Federov said both sides knew the delays in, and challenges with, the pipeline 'must be fixed,' adding: 'We are working ... and I hope that in the nearest time we can prepare some positive surprises for Pakistani people, for Russian people, and for the world.' Asked what was delaying the pipeline, Federov declined to share details, saying it could 'spoil the game' as such projects 'do not like a lot of noise and discussions around it.' 'There are nothing that can be a firewall between Russia and Pakistan in implementing this project,' he said. The main challenges to building the Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline include unresolved disagreements over project structure, financing terms, and US sanctions on Russian entities involved in the project. Regulatory hurdles and Pakistan's weak fiscal position have also contributed to repeated delays since the agreement was signed a decade ago. But despite the challenges, Federov said the two sides remained committed to finding 'positive conclusions' on both the new steel mill and the pipeline. 'We know that we can fix them,' he concluded.
