"Well, Pakistan is hopeful and has requested BRICS to include Pakistan. I think in the near future we will be in BRICS and, obviously, BRICS is a strong forum representing a major part of the world economy. So, I think Pakistan should be part of BRICS, and we are hopeful that our request will be entertained," the coordinator said.
Pakistan will take sanctions into account when developing cooperation with Moscow, but believes it has the right to buy Russian oil at favorable prices, Rana Ihsaan Afzal Khan highlighted.
"Pakistan has to look into its own national security … if Russia is a partner with Pakistan on energy security and if it is providing us cheap crude, we have the right to buy cheap crude from Russia and so we can, you know, lessen the economic burden on our people," he clarified.
Such decisions will be made taking into account both international sanctions and the country’s national security interests, the official added.
"Pakistan, as of now, has not come under any sanctions because there is not such a great trade volume with Russia, and obviously when we are going to increase that trade volume, we will consider different aspects," Rana Ihsaan Afzal Khan said.
Islamabad would welcome Moscow removing the Taliban* movement from the list of terrorist organizations, the coordinator said.
"Well, we believe that there is no Taliban movement now in Afghanistan. Taliban is, you know, they are running their government in Afghanistan. So, if Russia has excluded the Taliban government from the terrorist lists, we would like to welcome it," he explained.
Earlier in October, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said that the Taliban movement will soon be excluded from the list of terrorist organizations in Russia.
*The Taliban is under UN sanctions for terrorist activities.