MOSCOW: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari arrived in Russia on a two-day official visit on Sunday. The minister was received by senior officials of the Russian foreign ministry, Pakistan’s ambassador to Russia Shafqat Ali Khan and officials of the embassy.

The foreign minister is visiting the Russian Federation at the invitation of his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, according to the Foreign Office.

The two foreign ministers are scheduled to meet on Monday for official talks.

“Russian and Pakistani ministers will discuss the state of bilateral relations, specifically focusing on developing trade and economic ties,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova in a press briefing on Friday.

The visit comes against the backdrop of a report that independent Russian oil refiner Forteinvest would send petrol to Pakistan by land for the first time.

Forteinvest has sold to a trader an initial 1,000-tonne lot of gasoline from its Orsk plant for delivery to Pakistan and has more requests to supply gasoline, diesel and LPG to the country, two industry sources told Reuters.

Ties between Pakistan and Russia further increased earlier this month after both the countries agreed to sort out all the entanglements – transportation, insurance, payment, and rolling – for a supply of crude oil by late March.

Pakistan receives the bulk of its crude oil (energy imports) from the Gulf. Negotiations started last year with Russia as Pakistan pursued cheaper options in the face of sanctions on Moscow. India is already buying crude oil from Russia.

Islamabad started eyeing cheaper fuel amid rising oil prices in the international market last year, prompting the country to appraoch the energy-rich Russia. A delegation led by State Minister for Petroleum Musadiq Malik visited Moscow in November with the same target, following months of negotiations and former prime minister Imran Khan visit in February.

The visit, according to Pakistan, was successful “more than their expectations” as Russia gave nod to providing crude oil, petrol, and diesel to Pakistan, in principle, at discounted rates.

“Islamabad wants to import 35% of its total crude oil requirement from Russia,” the petroleum minister told Geo News on January 21, 2023.