Prime Minister Imran Khan will visit Russia this month, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Monday.
Briefing reporters in Islamabad on Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to China, Qureshi said Russian President Vladimir Putin had invited Imran to Moscow, calling it “evidence” that relations between Pakistan and Russia were witnessing a positive change.
He made the announcement about the Russian tour while giving a briefing about the prime minister’s recently concluded visit to China and its outcomes.
Imran, accompanied by a high-level delegation, had arrived in Beijing on Friday, after which he attended the opening ceremony of Beijing Winter Olympics, says a news report.
“The joint statement is a visual manifestation of the success of the China tour,” FM Qureshi said while referring to the statement mutually issued by Pakistan and China over the visit. Pakistan and China are determined to quick completion of the second phase of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CEPC), he added, says a news report.
Qureshi further stated that the neighbouring countries of Afghanistan will meet in Beijing towards the end of March, wherein a future strategy will be worked out. He said the interim Afghan foreign minister will also be invited to the session.
The minister urged the international community once again to take notice of India’s “evil” intentions, for the sake of regional peace and stability.
PM Imran Khan will become the first Pakistani premier to visit Russia in 23 years after former premier Nawaz Sharif, who travelled to Moscow after the end of the Cold War. Apart from him, former presidents Pervez Musharraf and Asif Ali Zardari also got to visit the North Asian country.
According to sources, Pakistan and Russia are expected to strike major deals during PM Imran Khan’s trip.
They said that significant development is likely to occur in the talks for a gas pipeline project which is worth $2 billion dollars.
Moreover, the two countries will also discuss Pakistan’s geo-economic vision, land links and issues of peace and stability in Afghanistan and its humanitarian crisis during the premier’s visit, the sources said.
A high-level delegation will accompany PM Imran Khan to the Russia tour, for which a schedule is being finalised.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Qureshi said the long march was a political necessity of opposition as it had made alliance just to protect their personal interests. In a statement issued here, the foreign minister made it clear that PTI government had no objection if the opposition wanted to demonstrate any protest. He said the alliance of opposition parties would be ended soon as they had difference of opinion on various political matters. Qureshi, however, remarked that the opposition should focus the country’s interests. “The nation knew everything that who created and broken the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and who cheated for a seat of the leader of opposition in Senate,” said Qureshi.
The 48th meeting of the Organization of Islamic Countries’ (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers was going to be held in Islamabad on March 22 & 23 in which the issues being faced by the Muslim world including Afghanistan, Palestine and Islamophobia would be discussed, Qureshi informed.
Qureshi while commenting on the successful foreign policy stated that Rahul Gandhi admitted that India underwent diplomatic isolation at international level. The impression was being emerged that PML-N would not enter to Sindh while PPP would not interfere in Punjab, said Qureshi.
