KARACHI: Minister for Economic Affairs, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq has said that the 8th Intergovernmental Commission (IGC) would lay foundation of a ‘new relationship’ between Russia and Pakistan in different sectors including energy, economy, trade, technology, education and business to business transactions.

Addressing a news conference at the conclusion of the three-day IGC meeting in Islamabad on Friday, Ayaz Sadiq said during these days subjects of mutual interests had been discussed, ranging from rail transportation, food security, aviation, education, oil and gas, natural resources, finance, opening of financial arrangements between the two countries and many other subjects.

He said “a few agreements of mutual cooperation would be signed and some of them were in the pipeline. ”Follow-up of these developments is going to be a key factor in implementation of these projects,” he added.

The minister also expressed gratitude for Russian government for agreeing to suspend debt service for Pakistan during this critical time. He also appreciated international community for helping the affected communities [affected by recent floods] of Pakistan. However, much more was needed to be done for rehabilitation of the people, he added.

Working groups in diverse fields

Earlier, the Inter-Governmental Commission (IGC) of Pakistan and Russia continued deliberations and reached an agreement to form working groups and further the existing cooperation between the two countries in diverse fields including energy, oil and gas.

The 8th three-day meeting of the IGC, which started here on Wednesday, reviewed the areas of cooperation and looked into ways and means of exploring new opportunities for strengthening bilateral relations.

Experts of the two countries held technical sessions and debated on possibilities to further deepen bilateral cooperation in trade and investment; agriculture; energy; industry; education; science and technology; information and communication technologies; finance, customs and communication, besides roads, postal service and railways.

The Russian side observed that the energy sector was the main focus because its Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov was himself leading the negotiations. The two sides have decided to move forward together in the field of energy, and Pakistan would get the benefit of Russian expertise in the oil and gas sector. The visiting delegation also suggested Pakistan take benefit of Russia’s expertise in the field of science and technology and research.

On the last day of the meeting on Friday, there would be a main discussion on the implementation of the gas pipeline construction project titled “the Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline (PSGP),” oil and petroleum products delivery to Pakistan, Russian-Pakistani financial cooperation, implementation of the decisions and recommendations of the seventh meeting of the commission, besides cooperation in different sectors, before signing of the final protocol, as per the shared schedule.