Pakistan ready to buy 12 billion dollars' worth of Russian transport vehicles

Pakistan is ready to buy 12 billion dollars' worth of transport vehicles in the next three to four years, said Sergei Stepashin, Chairman of the Russian Audit Chamber and president of the European Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (EUROSAI), in his interview with RIA Novosti.

The Pakistani side also shows a great interest in military-technological cooperation which is quite possible in perspective, he added.

Among the interesting economic projects Stepashin mentioned the creation of a joint enterprise for assembling Russian automobiles with an equal participation of the sides. Pakistan would like to buy Russian KAMAZ trucks and Oka and Lada cars. A perspective plan has already been drawn till 2006: some 140,000 automobiles a year.

The Pakistani side is also interested in using the Russian experience for creating its own space satellites and in cooperation in the power industry and in training national personnel in Russia.

During his two-day visit Sergei Stepashin met with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, with chairman of the Pakistani National Bureau on combating corruption and violation of financial laws Munir Hafiz and with many other officials.

The Chairman of the Russian Audit Chamber specially pointed out the importance of the signed memorandum on cooperation in combating corruption, violation of financial laws and money laundering. "An agreement has also been reached to exchange information and organizing joint actions with Pakistan in case of necessity," said Stepashin.

He also spoke of Pakistan's readiness to cooperate with Russia in the fight against international terrorism and drug trafficking.