Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Monday emphasized the importance of resolving 15-year old trade related financial disputes for taking a giant leap forward for removing the impasse in Pak-Russian trade relations.
The minister was chairing a meeting of the committee formed by the Prime Minister to resolve the long standing trade issues between Russia and Pakistan here in Islamabad.
Ishaq Dar said, "Any progress made in resolving these issues will create a win-win situation for both the parties and shall remove the barriers to mutual trade, which have held the trade relations between the two countries hostage for more than one and a half decade."
He said, "We shall be the honest brokers for the settlement of financial claims existing between the Russian government and the trade community of Pakistan and we shall facilitate the process of the resolution of bilateral issues in any way we can".
The Finance Minister further reiterated that the resolution of 15-year old financial disputes between the countries would give a positive signal to the Russian investors to bring their capital to Pakistan. "We will also be in a favourable condition to avail trade opportunities existing in the resource rich Central Asian states."
For expediting the process of resolving disputes, he also formed a sub-committee under the chairmanship of Secretary Commerce Qasim Niaz to have a meaningful dialogue with all the stakeholders and submit its proposals within a week.
The meeting was attended by Minister of State for Commerce Khurram Dastagir Khan, Special Assistant to Prime Minster on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatimi and senior officials of the Finance Ministry.