ISLAMABAD: A delegation of Russian businessmen led by Ildar Mingaleev, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Tatarstan visited Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry and showed keen interest to invest in Pakistan’s energy and automobile sectors.
Ildar Mingaleev said that Russian delegation has held negotiations with Pakistan Petroleum Limited and OGDCL to explore joint ventures in oil and gas exploration field. He said Russia’s largest energy company Gazprom was interested in supplying LNG to Pakistan while RT Global Resources, part of Russian State Corporation Rostec will construct the 1100 Km long North South gas pipeline in Pakistan by 2020 to link LNG terminals from Karachi to Lahore.
He said the Russian investors were also interested to invest and enter into joint ventures in Pakistan to manufacture heavy duty trucks, passenger cars, other specialized vehicles, shipbuilding, manufacturing of gas turbines and compressors. He said Russia has established Free Economic Zones with tangible tax benefits to foreign investors and said that Pakistani investors should set up textiles units in Russia to capture huge market of the region. He said Trade Development Authority of Pakistan was planning to take a business delegation to Russia and ICCI members should become part of this delegation to explore business opportunities in Russia.
Speaking at the occasion, Atif Ikram Sheikh, president, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that Russia was an important country and Pakistan wanted to develop close relations with it. He said Pakistan was now focusing on Central Asia for trade and exports and close cooperation with Russia was key to achieve these goals. He said Pakistan wanted to further strengthen its trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation with Russia to achieve mutually beneficial results.
He said energy deficit was a serious problem in Pakistan due to which industrial activities were also suffering and stressed that Russia should help in overcoming this problem by exploring investment and joint ventures in Pakistan’s energy sector. He said many Pakistani products including textiles, surgical instruments, leather products, fruits & vegetables and others have good potential in Russia and emphasized that both countries should encourage frequent exchange of trade delegations to explore new areas for enhancing bilateral trade and economic relations.
Sheikh Abdul Waheed, vice president ICCI, Mian Akram Farid vice president FPCCI, Mian Shaukat Masud former president ICCI and others stressed that Pakistan and Russia should sign Free Trade Agreement to improve trade relations. Both sides discussed to sign MoU to promote connectivity between private sectors of Pakistan and Russia.
