Pakistan and Russia on Wednesday agreed to strengthen their bilateral military cooperation.
The agreement was reached during the third round of Russia-Pakistan Joint Military Consultative Committee (JMCC) meetings that were held between the two countries.
Defense Secretary retired Lt Gen Mian Mohammad Hilal Hussain and Russian Deputy Defense Minister Col Gen Alexander V. Fomin led their respective sides at the talks.
The JMCC was set up in 2018 as the top bilateral forum on defence cooperation. The military partnership between Islamabad and Moscow is governed by their defence cooperation agreement of 2014.
Defence ties between the two countries have steadily grown since they signed the cooperation accord.
The two sides at the JMCC meeting reviewed the current status of their bilateral relations and explored different areas of mutual cooperation, including military training, joint exercises, intelligence cooperation and defence industrial cooperation, Pakistan’s defence ministry said in a media statement.
The two sides agreed on effective follow-up and implementation of the decisions taken during the meeting, besides hoping that the JMCC would continue to strengthen defence cooperation.
Gen Fomin praised the trajectory of Pakistan-Russia defence cooperation and said its expansion was an important factor in regional security. “
Development of constructive relations between Russia and Pakistan is the important factor to ensure regional stability,” he maintained.
He noted that Pakistan was one of the few states with which Russia continued to hold previously planned events despite the difficult epidemiological situation in the world.