Pakistan, Russia to go for FTA, currency swap agreement

The leaders of Pakistan and Russia have expressed the willingness to speed up work on the proposed Free Trade Agreement and currency swap arrangement to boost bilateral trade and further strengthen their economic ties.Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, who had a frank discussion in a cordial atmosphere, also discussed the whole gamut of relations on the sidelines of the 10th Heads of Government meeting of the SCO.The two leaders discussed several important issues including fight against terrorism and extremism besides calling for the need to adopt a regional approach in dealing with common challenges.The two leaders discussed ways to strengthen relations by increasing cooperation in energy, trade, infrastructure development, agriculture, business cooperation and people to people contacts.Prime Minister Putin said relations between Pakistan and Russia have reached a level, where both the countries were in a position to enhance trade, measuring up to their strong ties.Prime Minister Gilani said Russia was an important country and a source of stability in the region and because of its geographical proximity and strength of economy it has contributed significantly for the socio-economic uplift of the region.The Russian premier also supported Prime Minister Gilani’s proposals for implementing trade and energy projects.He announced financing of 500 million US dollars for the CASA-1000 for the power transmission from Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan to Pakistan and Afghanistan.Putin also offered Russia’s assistance for the enhancement of the production capacity of the Pakistan Steel Mills by increasing its production from the current one million tonnes to three million tonnes.He also offered coal gasification technology for the Thar coal and upgradation of the Guddu and Muzaffargarh power plants to increase power generation capacity to help meet country’s growing energy needs.Putin said in practical and tangible terms, Russia wants materialization of projects including TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) gas pipeline project and the Central Asia South Asia Electricity Trade and Transmission Project (CASA 1000).Gilani appreciated Russia’s support for mega projects including CASA-1000 and said it was his fourth meeting with Prime Minister Putin.He mentioned that he joined other leaders at the SCO forum despite the occasion of Eid because of the importance of the forum and also because of Pakistan’s commitment to the regional issues.