Pakistan, Russia agree to expand military cooperation

Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa has held a meeting with Commander Russian Federation Ground Forces, Colonel General Oleg Salyukov in Moscow.

The Russian Ground Forces Commander acknowledged the achievements of Pakistan army in the fight against terrorism and contributions for regional peace and stability, the Pakistani state media reported.

He said Pakistan is a geo-strategically important country and Moscow is keen to expand its existing bilateral military-to-military cooperation with Islamabad.

General Qamar Javed Bajwa said Pakistan is willing to enhance bilateral military engagements with Russia.

He said Pakistan would continue to play its part to keep conflicts away from the region and seek approaches, which bring regional convergences into play rather that the divergences.

Earlier, Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolay Patrushev has held Russian - Pakistani consultations on security issues with Pakistani National Security Advisor Nasser Khan Janjua in Moscow, the Russian Security Council press service reported.

According to Russian news agency Tass, the sides stressed their interest in further security cooperation between Moscow and Islamabad. "Issues of bilateral military cooperation in information security and countering international terrorism were studied," the report says. "The general situation in South Asia and the main challenges and threats to global security were discussed."

Nasser Khan Janjua arrived in Russia to take part in the ninth international meeting of security chiefs that is being held in Sochi between April 24-26.