Visiting Russian expert from Carnegie Moscow Centre Dr Peter Topychkanov during a round table discussion said Pakistan and Russia should establish bilateral mechanism for discussion and consultation on the prospects of cooperation in the nuclear field, education and exchanging information on nuclear safety issues. The discussion was organised by the South Asian Strategic Stability Institute (SASSI) titled “Prospects for nuclear cooperation between Russia and Pakistan” on Monday. The discussion was attended by experts from the academia, media, foreign dignitaries and strategic community.
Dr Petr elaborated that the ties between Pakistan and Russia had been facing difficulty due to the political and strategic environment of the cold war. However, there had been cooperation between the two states on the economic front such as the Russian assistance provided in building steel mills in Pakistan, he said. He said that there existed many possibilities of expanding the relationship in the emerging security situation.
Nuclear energy, he said, had not played a significant role in Pakistan’s energy spectrum due to reasons such as lack of political and economic resources. Pakistan had plans of expanding ten new nuclear power stations in the next twenty years so that the input of nuclear power was increased to sustainable levels in the energy spectrum.
Highlighting the difficulties faced by Pakistan in the international cooperation for civil nuclear technologies, the speaker elaborated three factors such as Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NNPT) status, proliferation record due to Abdul Qadeer Khan’s network and lack of political and economic resources.
SASSI Director General Dr Maria Sultan said that it was all the more imperative that Pakistan and Russia should establish a new era of partnership in changing the strategic environment both at the regional and global level.