Consensus in Pakistan for strong Russia ties

Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf Thursday told visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that there is consensus in Pakistan that relations with Russia should be further strengthened. \"Russia is very important because of its linkages with Europe and Asia,\" the Prime Minister said in meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister in Islamabad. The Prime Minister said that Pakistan and Russia have convergence on many regional and international issues including Afghanistan, Syria and the Security Council as well as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the PM office said. Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf said that Pakistan seeks to increase economic relations and to benefit from the expertise of Russia, especially in the energy sector where Russia has experience in mining coal and generation of coal power plants. The Prime Minister expressed the hope that progress will also be made for cooperation between the two countries for improvement of railways in Pakistan. He assured the Russian Foreign Minister that his government would extend all possible assistance to Russia in securing contracts in Pakistan and their execution. The Prime Minister expressed the hope that both countries would exchange parliamentary, business and cultural delegations to further strengthen the relations. In this connection he referred to the visit of Speaker of National Assembly Ms. Fehmida Mirza to Russia early next year. The Russian Foreign Minister conveyed the best wishes of President Vladimir Putin for President Asif Ali Zardari. He said that the inter governmental commission between the two countries has been working to promote economic cooperation between the two countries. He also said that Russia attaches great importance to consultation with Pakistan and is looking forward to Pakistan\'s participation in the next SCO Summit to be hold in Kyrgyzstan. The Pakistani Prime Minister asked the Russian Foreign Minister to convey his best wishes to President Vladimir Putin.