Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov to visit Pakistan from April 6-7

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will visit Pakistan from April 6 to 7 during which he will hold talks with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi and discuss the Afghan peace process, counterterrorism cooperation and other bilateral issues.

The two-day visit was announced by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday. “The Ministers will discuss bilateral ties, including economic cooperation and counterterrorism #RussiaPakistan,” the ministry tweeted through its official account.

Before travelling to Pakistan, Lavrov will visit India on April 5 and 6 and will hold talks with Foreign Minister S Jaishankar to prepare ground for the annual India-Russia summit as well as to discuss bilateral cooperation.


Sources in Foreign Office of Pakistan said that the focus of Lavrov's talks with Qureshi would be the Afghan endgame and improving cooperation between Pakistan and Russia in different fields.

They said that Lavorv will be accompanied by Russian special envoy on Afghanistan Zamir Kaboluv, who visited Pakistan in February and held talks on different issues.

This is a rare visit by the Russian Foreign Minister and is taking place in the backdrop of improving ties between Islamabad and Moscow.

Russia recently hosted a conference of Pakistan, US, China and representatives from the Afghan government and the Taliban as part of efforts to facilitate the peace process.