Pakistan’s Business Community asked to tap Russian market for exports

March 4, 2019: A delegation of Pakistani entrepreneurs doing business in Moscow visited Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) and said that Russia was a huge market for Pakistani exports and business community of Pakistan should capitalize on this untapped market for promoting exports.

The delegates said that except for oil and gas, Russia was meeting over 95 percent needs of its people through imports and Pakistan has great potential to export many products to Russia including food products, textiles, surgical instruments, pharmaceuticals, leather products, sports goods and others.

They said that many Pakistani products were reaching Russian market through Europe and USA at higher cost while direct trade between Pakistan and Russia would yield much better results for both countries.

The delegation members said that 12-15 companies from Sialkot have opened their offices in Moscow and stressed that more should come as doing business was quite easy in Russia.

They said that Pakistan was mostly focusing on EU and West for exports, but added that it could make significant increase in its exports by paying more attention to Russia.

Moreover, they opined that ICCI should form a delegation for Moscow to see the business potential in Russian market and assured that they would extend full cooperation in arranging B2B meetings of ICCI delegation with right partners in Russia.

Speaking at the occasion, Ahmed Hassan Moughal, President ICCI said that Government of Pakistan should cooperate with private sector in opening warehouses in Moscow and other major Russian cities that would help in introducing Pakistani products in Russian market.

He said Pakistan and Russia should focus on opening bank branches on reciprocal basis, which was necessary to promote bilateral trade between the two countries.

Senior Vice President Rafat Farid and Vice President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry Iftikhar Anwar Sethi said that Pakistan and Russia should encourage frequent exchange of trade delegations to explore all potential areas of mutual cooperation.

They said that initially 9 Special Economic Zones would be built in Pakistan under CPEC and urged that Russian investors should be persuaded to explore Pakistan for JVs and investment in CPEC and in other sectors of our economy.

 (APP)