Pakistan to sign two MoUs with Russia

Pakistan will sign two more Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with Russia in upcoming 'Investment Conference' to be held next month in Russia. The Ministry of Law did not approve the draft of these MOUs nor did the cabinet approve the MOUs in time for President Zardari's recent visit to Russia.
Chairman Board of Investment (BoI), Saleem H. Mandviwalla disclosed, "the overall Russian response to Pakistan during the recent visit of the President was quite encouraging." He added that the two countries would explore opportunities to enhance co-operation in the energy and corporate sector. The Russian authorities held meetings with Defence Minister, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Hina Rabbani Khar and the Chairman BoI.
On his return to the country, President Zardari constituted a task force comprising three members namely the Russian Ambassador, the Ambassador of Pakistan to Russia and the Chairman BoI with the objective of enhancing ties between the two countries.
"The Russian authorities have assured Pakistan 100 percent co-operation in two major gas pipeline projects - Iran-Pakistan (IP) and Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI)", the Chairman added. The Chairman said that meetings have also been held with Russian companies for enhancing the current capacity of Pakistan Steel Mills and transforming it into a profit generating entity.
"Russia is the biggest exporter of energy in the world. Last year, the country earned $95 billion from energy exports and trade volume is expected to surpass $166 billion in the current year", he said. "We have started discussions with the Russian authorities for import of LNG and LPG", the Chairman added.
Mandviwalla said that Russian companies offered aircrafts on trial for a period of six months. PIA would be the recipient of these aircrafts. "These would be small jets with Russian crew with a total capacity of 95-100 passengers for local flights eg, from Islamabad to Lahore or Lahore to Karachi etc" he said.