The Foreign Office said in a statement on Tuesday that during his visit, the Deputy PM Overchuk will hold key meetings with President Asif Zardari, PM Shehbaz Sharif and his counterpart Ishaq Dar.

The announcement comes as last month it was reported that Pakistan and Moscow were considering LNG transactions in future.

Russia’s Ministry of Energy, had communicated that its LNG export terminals would get ready in 2026 for gas trade with Pakistan in light of the fact that the price re-opening clause with Qatar under two long-term agreements under government-to-government arrangements would be invoked in 2026.

As PM Shehbaz-led coalition govt tries to tackle various challenges, notably on the economic front, it would be interesting to see what the Russian deputy PM's visit might entail.

Earlier in the month, the Ministry of Industries and Production submitted a report to the National Assembly saying that the country was considering establishing a new steel mill following a meeting between Russian officials and President Zardari in April wherein the former offered assistance with regard to the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) — established via Moscow's assistance.

Russian Consul General Andrey Viktorovich Fedorov, in July, had also offered Moscow's help to Islamabad in reviving the steel mills.