Opening and First Session of the Russia-Pakistan Expert Dialogue

Opening of the Conference Andrey Bystritskiy, Chairman of the Board of the Foundation for Development and Support of the Valdai Discussion Club Muhammad Athar Javed, Founder and Director General, Pakistan House. Session I. Russia-Pakistan Political and Security Relations Relations between Russia and Pakistan have strengthened markedly in recent years. Cooperation has particularly intensified following Pakistan's accession to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. It is in progress, inter alia, in the defence and technical sphere. What are the prospects for further improvement of the bilateral political dialogue? What are the challenges to this? And what influence could recent developments have on the dynamics of bilateral relations: escalation of the Ukrainian conflict, on the one hand, and changes in the internal political situation and the change of the prime minister in Pakistan, on the other? Speakers: Shafqat Ali Khan, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to the Russian Federation Ivan Safranchuk, Director, Center of Euro-Asian Studies, MGIMO University Muhammad Athar Javed, Founder and Director General, Pakistan House Aleksei Kupriyanov, Head of the Group on South Asia and Indian Ocean of the Center for Asia Pacific Studies, Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Moderator: Fyodor Lukyanov, Research Director of the Foundation for Development and Support of the Valdai Discussion Club