ISLAMABAD: A high level committee on Russia, headed by Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal has directed the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to hold consultations with banks and leading exporters for creating transaction settlement regarding trade with Russia, well informed sources in Planning Commission told Business Recorder.
The Committee has held several meetings in this regard but the ‘wish list’ has not yet been finalised, pending discussion during a high level visit to Moscow. Pakistan’s ambassador to Russia Khalid Jamali was in Islamabad to share his opinion on different agenda items which are under discussion at different forums with respect to future ties with Russia.
The sources said, during the sixth meeting held on August 6, 2024, with Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives in chair, the Committee was informed that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif may convene a review meeting on the preparations for the visit to Russia and emphasised that each Ministry should be prepared to make a presentation on roadmap for engagements with Russia to the Prime Minister at short notice.
Different modules of trade, business with Russia under study
After detailed deliberations, the Committee took following decisions: (i) all Ministries/ Divisions to prepare concise presentation for the Prime Minister’s review meeting, duly encapsulating their strategy paper/ roadmap for engagements with Russia at the earliest while ensuring strict compliance with all the decisions of the Committee made to-date; (ii) every ministry will itself make a presentation in the Prime Minister’s review meeting; (iii) State Bank of Pakistan to convene a meeting with all banks and leading exporters to come up with concrete plan to identify innovative, non-sanctioned and creative ways for transaction settlement with Russia such as the Model of BRICS New Development Bank; (iv) Ministry of Railways to carry out feasibility study regarding passenger travel for Pakistan-Iran-Turkiye route and also explore multi gauge options while engaging with engineering universities to come up with innovative solutions; (v) Ministry of Water Resources to consult Power Division for overlapping projects and align the proposals to avoid inconsistencies in road map; and (vi) Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) to coordinate with provinces and prepare a consolidate presentation for the Prime Minister.
The meeting was attended by the Minister for Water Resources, Dr Musadik Masood Malik; Special Assistant to the Prime Minister, Syed Tariq Fatemi, Prime Minister Coordinator, Rana Ihsan Afzal, Secretaries and senior officials of different concerned Ministries.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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