MESSAGE BY H.E. MR. ANDREY FEDOROV, CONSUL GENERAL OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION IN KARACHI

Dear friends,
I would like to convey my sincerest appreciation for all your support in making Russia-Pakistan relations more productive and mutually beneficial than ever! With your help, we have managed to elevate them on a completely different level.
Many great results have been achieved this year. They include mutual visits of high-level delegations, productive trade negotiations and, of course, the start of the supply of crude oil from Russia to Pakistan. We also launched some extremely successful ventures in the field of transport and logistics. To name a few, a direct shipping line from Saint-Petersburg and Vladivostok to Karachi was established by Pak Shaheen company in collaboration with Neco Line in May, and the two-way trucking line between Pakistan and Russia started operating this June. Such breakthrough was foreshadowed by the Russian President Vladimir Putin during his address to the Federal Assembly this February. In particular, Pakistan was one of the few countries mentioned by him in the context of developing bilateral partnerships. Our leader set the tone for a particularly fruitful cooperation, and lots of great initiatives have been implemented this year so far!
The aforementioned achievements concurred with the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between our countries. Taking this opportunity, I would like to express my gratitude for the Pakistani friends who have always held a very sensible position toward the Soviet Union and Russia despite all the geopolitical perturbations and bloc politics. As a reflection of such wisdom and reasonableness, such mega projects as Pakistan Steel Mill and Guddu Thermal Power Station were concluded in 1980-s, even though the relations at that time between our countries were marred by the situation in Afghanistan. This milestone was also celebrated during the Reception on the occasion of the People’s Unity Day organized on the 3rd of November. The event was marked by the presence of the most distinguished guests from Karachi: Governor of Sindh Kamran Tessori, the Chief Minister of Sindh Justice (R) Maqbool Baqar and the Speaker of the Provincial Assembly Agha Siraj Durrani. The main attraction of the evening was the traditional dance troop from Northern Caucasus, and their performance was an extremely unique and magnificent experience for all the honourable guests!
Despite such significant progress, which has been achieved this year so far, we still have a lot of untapped potential in the wide range of fields. Today’s Pakistan is a responsible country with a very young and diverse population. It is a key player in the international arena, an important voice in the Islamic World and an emerging economic power. Which is why it is very important for Russia to maintain mutually beneficial partnership and contribute to the sustainable growth of Pakistan. We are committed to further strengthen the cooperation in the wide range of spheres. Among them are energy, trade and economic partnership, anti-terrorism activities, information technology, medical and pharmaceutical industry, culture and education. Russia is also eager to solidify strong relations with Pakistan in various multilateral formats, such as Shanghai Cooperation Organization, as both our countries stick to the principle of the supremacy of the international law instead of some arbitrary “rules”. Thus, I hope that next year will bring even more positive results and create various opportunities to develop even stronger ties between our nations!
Pakistan-Russia friendship Zindabad!