By Our Correspondent
Islamabad: Pakistan, one of the world’s largest producers and suppliers of food and crops and8th biggest country across globe in farm output, according to the List of countries by GDP sector composition, is desperately looking for import of wheat.
Unprecedented floods caused by the melting of glaciers in its Northern area have submerged almost one third of Pakistan, displaced nearly 40 million people and killed 1500 people besides washing away seasonal crops, fruits and vegetable. One can imagine the degree of damage caused by unprecedented floods that a leading food producing country has to import millions of tons of wheat and other food items to feed its population.
Speaking at a press conference, Federal Minister of Defense Mr. Khawaja Asif announced that besides gas, Russia had also offered to provide wheat to Pakistan in the wake of catastrophic floods and keeping in view the possibility of food shortages that may occur in the aftermath of the deluge.
“Russian President has assured his country can provide us wheat because in the coming day we may face shortage,” Khawja Asif, one of the prominent members of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s federal cabinet said at a press conference in Islamabad.
The minister’s statements come a day after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his delegation returned from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Uzbekistan.
During his two-day visit to Samarkand, where the annual Council of Heads of State took place, the premier held meetings with several world leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In one such meeting on Thursday, Putin said that pipeline gas supplies to Pakistan were possible, revealing that necessary infrastructures were already in place.
According to Dawn, two leaders also expressed commitment to expand and strengthen cooperation between their countries across all areas of mutual benefit, including food security, trade and investment, energy, defence, and security.
In a media talk today, Asif confirmed the development.
“They have said that they can give us gas. Russia said that they have gas pipelines in Central Asian countries and the pipelines could be extended to Pakistan via Afghanistan. These talks have taken place,” he elaborated.
The minister said that President Putin also appreciated Pakistan’s position on the Russia-Ukraine war in the United Nations (UN) and internationally.
Talking about the meeting with the Chinese president, he said that Xi expressed his wish to resume the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project with the “same efficiency and passion”.
“To Pakistan, he said that we are all-weather friends and offered to help the country in every situation,” he added.
