Leading Russian companies Gazprom, Zarubezhneftegaz and Inter Raoues are keen to develop Pakistan’s energy sector and will contribute to the building of power generating facilities and developing gas fields in Pakistan. This assurance was given to President Asif Ali Zardari during his first three-day state visit to Russia (May 11-13) during which the leadership of both the countries held in- depth discussions on bilateral, regional and international issues.
The Russian business community showed interest in working together with the Pakistani government and businesses in a number of commercial, infrastructure and banking projects. The Russian side reaffirmed the willingness of Russian companies to cooperate with Pakistan. State owned enterprise Tyazhpromeexport is ready to take part in the modernization of Pakistan Steel Mills in Karachi to increase its production.
President Zardari, who was the first Pakistani president to visit Russia since 1974, supported Russia’s offer to participate in the projects and underscored the need for their early realization. In this regard, the two sides expressed their keen interest in the implementation of projects related to the creation of a system to transmit electric power from Tajikistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan (KASA-1000) and to the building of gas pipeline between Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan and India (TAPI).
The $7.5 billion TAPI gas project will be a backbone for Pakistani industry and economy. Talking to APP, Chairman Board of Investment Salim H Mandviwala said that the areas of cooperation between Pakistan and Russian are numerous. He said a Russian Company Stroytransgaz has also expressed keen desire to build transnational gas pipeline projects of Pakistan from Turkmenistan, Iran or Qatar.
Similarly, Gazprom Geoservice Petroleum Company has agreed to construct oil and gas storage facilities and would also help in training Pakistani oil and gas experts. He said that in road automobile and tractor manufacturing, Russian automobile manufacturers have already visited Pakistan and have expressed interest in undertaking manufacture of automobiles in Pakistan.
He said main Russian automobile manufacturers are interested in investing in Pakistan, adding that Lada is interested in manufacturing cars of 1300 cc and Samara and Nova to manufacture cars of 800 cc. Pakistan is especially interested in their help in upgrading Heavy Mechanical Complex (HMC) Taxila, Pakistan Machine Tool Factory Karachi, value addition in textile sector, automobile manufacturing with transfer of technology as well as expansion of Pakistan Steel Mills.
President Zardari also invited the Russian entrepreneurs to invest in small scale five to ten megawawtt power plants in Pakistan. The two countries also signed four MoUs in energy, investment, air services and agriculture cooperation. President Zardari and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev emphasized the importance of developing mutually beneficial economic cooperation between the two countries.
