The Federation Council Speaker met with the head of the Pakistani parliament’s lower house.
This year’s busy schedule of Russian-Pakistani contacts clearly shows the growing interest in finding new mutually beneficial areas of cooperation.
This was noted by Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko at the meeting with Speaker of the National Assembly of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Sardar Sadiq, who is in Moscow at the invitation of the State Duma. During the visit, an Agreement on Cooperation between the two countries’ lower houses of parliament was signed.
The previous meeting between Valentina Matvienko and Sardar Sadiq took place in October 2024, during the visit of the Federation Council delegation to Pakistan. A Memorandum of Understanding between the upper houses of parliament of Russia and Pakistan was signed in Islamabad.
According to Valentina Matvienko, the agreements reached by the parliamentarians have created a strong foundation for further bilateral cooperation. “We can see significant potential that we need to develop, progressing without slowing down the pace of political contacts. Your visit reaffirms a firm commitment to the full-scale development of inter-parliamentary cooperation. I believe that it will boost the development of the entire range of Russian-Pakistani relations.”
Valentina Matvienko said that work was carried out following the Federation Council delegation’s visit to Pakistan, including at the government level, to update the legal framework and analyse existing and prospective projects for trade, economic, investment, scientific, technical and humanitarian cooperation, with a roadmap developed to further these initiatives. These issues will be discussed in detail at the next meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission, which is scheduled for December.
The Federation Council Speaker emphasised the importance of establishing interregional ties and launching direct flights between the countries, which will increase the tourist flow, while also enhancing business contacts and humanitarian ties.
“The Federation Council, as a chamber of regions, will provide maximum assistance to this work,” Valentina Matvienko said.
The parties also touched upon inter-parliamentary cooperation at various regional and international venues, including the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
Sardar Sadiq highlighted the intention to further strengthen relations with Russia and expressed interest in developing economic cooperation. He noted the important role that legislators play in facilitating these processes.
“It is necessary to create conditions for economic cooperation, encourage business contacts both on a bilateral and multilateral basis, and develop bilateral and multilateral infrastructure projects.”
The meeting was attended by Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev, First Deputy Chairs of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Vladimir Dzhabarov and Andrey Denisov, First Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Defence and Security, Head of the Group on Cooperation between the Federation Council and the Senate of Pakistan Vladimir Chizhov, and Russian members of the cooperation group: senators Lyudmila Skakovskaya, Mukharby Ulbashev and Yury Fedorov.