MOSCOW: Pakistan and Russia on Thursday agreed to promote trade, investment and pursue joint projects particularly in energy, infrastructure development, metal industry and agriculture.

In a joint communiqué issued after the meeting of President Asif Ali Zardari and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Kremlin, both leaders agreed that this enhanced cooperation would help develop a strong bilateral relationship based on mutual respect and mutual interests.

President Asif Ali Zardari is on his first three-day official visit to Russia at the invitation of his Russian counterpart. In the last 37 years, President Zardari is the first Pakistani President, who is visiting Russia officially.

Earlier, in 1974, Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, paid an official visit to the then Soviet Union.

Both the Presidents emphasized the importance they attach to promoting stability and peace in the broader region and, in this regard, to continue to enhance contacts, consultations, cooperation and coordination between the two countries.

The two sides welcomed the signing of the agreement between Pakistan and Russia on Air Transport as well as the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources of Pakistan and the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation in energy cooperation and cooperation in agriculture sector.

Earlier, President Zardari and President Medvedev held a one-on-one meeting followed by delegations level talks. Both leaders discussed bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest and concern.

President Zardari and his Russian counterpart emphasized the importance of developing mutually beneficial economic cooperation between the two countries, which is to be promoted by the Pakistani Russian Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation that held its first meeting in Moscow in September 2010.

Discussing regional issues, the Presidents underscored the importance of stability and peace in Afghanistan and reaffirmed their support for Afghan-led and Afghan owned efforts towards promoting national reconciliation in Afghanistan.

The Presidents expressed their deep concern about the threat of terrorism and drug related crimes persisting in the region.

Both Pakistan and Russia underlined the importance of joint efforts to fight terrorism and narco related crimes, posing a serious challenge to the international peace and stability - along the whole chain of illegal production and distribution of drugs. The two sides welcomed the signing in October 2010 of the agreement between the Ministry of Narcotics Control of Pakistan and the Federal Drug Control Service of Russia on cooperation on combating illicit trafficking of drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors.

The Presidents recognized the need for promoting trans-regional economic and trade cooperation. Regional development projects would ensure prosperity for the people of the region and it was important to optimally utilize national economic complementarities. They agreed to coordinate their efforts bilaterally as well as through regional multilateral cooperative mechanisms.

In this regard, the two sides expressed keen interest in the implementation of projects related to the creation of a system to transmit electric power from Tajikistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan (CASA-1000) and to the building of a gas pipeline between Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI).

President Zardari supported Russia's offer to participate in the projects and underscored the need for their early realization.

The Russian side welcomed Pakistan's involvement in the activities of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Russia's support for Pakistan's joining the SCO alongwith other candidates was reaffirmed subject to the consent of all its members.

President Zardari and Dmitry Devedeve reiterated the importance that the two countries attach to the quadrilateral process (Russian Federation, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan) and reaffirmed their commitment to further interaction in this format in close cooperation with the SCO.

The Presidents commended the considerable progress made in the political and security dialogues between Pakistan and Russia, including at the top level. There has been a notable intensification of contacts on wide range of topics between ministries and departments of two countries, the joint communiqué said.

They commended the Russian business community's interest in participating together with the Pakistani government and businesses in a number of economic, infrastructure and banking projects. The Russian side reaffirmed the willingness of Russian companies to cooperate with Pakistan.