ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has assured the United States that growing ties with Russia were not at anyone’s cost. Diplomatic sources said that the US was naturally concerned over the closeness between Pakistan and Russia. “We have told them very clearly that Pakistan’s friendship and partnership is not at anyone’s cost and Pakistan considers the relationship with the US as very important,” a senior Pakistani diplomat told The Nation yesterday. He said despite their reservations, the US had not interfered with Pakistan’s efforts to consolidate ties with Russia. Another diplomat said Pakistan was following a foreign policy to improve ties with all the countries for mutual benefits. “We want to build ties with all the countries. We have exchanged visits at higher levels with several countries during the recent months,” he added.
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Last week, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had said that everything was set for his country to receive a shipment of discounted Russian oil. Petroleum Minister Musadik Malik later announced that Pakistan had made its first purchase of cut-price Russian crude. The discounted purchase offers much needed respite to cash-strapped Pakistan, which has been struggling to avert a balance of payments crisis as it awaits an International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal. Foreign exchange reserves at the country’s central bank have fallen to barely cover a month of controlled imports. Energy imports make up the majority of its external payments. The deal will see Pakistan buy only crude oil, not refined fuels, with Islamabad to target imports to reach 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) if the first transaction goes through smoothly, according to Malik, who said the first cargo was likely to dock at Karachi port in May.
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Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) will initially refine the Russian crude in a trial run, followed by Pak-Arab Refinery Limited (PARCO) and other refineries later. Russia has not yet commented on the deal, which gives Moscow a new outlet, adding to its growing sales to India and China - also often at a discount - as it redirects oil from Western markets following sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine. Pakistan, a long-standing Western ally, imported 154,000 bpd of oil in 2022, broadly flat from the previous year, data from analytics firm Kpler showed. Most was supplied by the world’s top exporter Saudi Arabia, followed by the United Arab Emirates. If Russian crude supplies were to reach 100,000 bpd, it would potentially mean a big drop for Middle Eastern suppliers to Pakistan. Yesterday, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US Masood Khan said there was no misunderstanding between the US and Pakistan over Islamabad’s move to buy discounted Russian oil.
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“We have placed the first order for Russian oil, and this has been done in consultation with the United States government; There’s no misunderstanding between Washington and Islamabad on this count,” he said in response to a question at a conference organized by the Wilson Center’s South Asia Institute, a Washington-based think-tank, on the future of relations between the two countries. The questioner had suggested the energy purchase from Russia could adverse impact on Pakistan’s already difficult relationship with the U.S. “They (US) have suggested that you are free to buy anything below or up to the price cap (set by G-7 nations), and we have abided by that agreement,” the Pakistani envoy said. “I think Washington is fine with that,” Ambassador Khan added. Ambassador Masood Khan said that Pakistan’s ties with the US had suffered a “brief period of uncertainty” after the US-led foreign military withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, when the Taliban seized control of the country. He said the relationship with the US was now back on track and both sides were working to boost economic and security partnerships.
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