A delegation of Russian businessmen led by Republic of Tatarstan Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Ildar Mingaleev visited Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry and showed keen interest to invest in Pakistan’s energy and automobile sectors.
Ildar Mingaleev said that the Russian delegation had 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 1,100 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 and other specialized vehicles as well as shipbuilding and manufacturing of gas turbines and compressors. He said Russia had 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 (TDAP) 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 on the occasion, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Atif Ikram Sheikh 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 achieving 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 and vegetables and others had great potential in Russia and emphasized that both countries should encourage frequent exchanges of trade delegations to explore new areas for enhancing bilateral trade and economic relations.
ICCI Vice President Sheikh Abdul Waheed, FPCCI Vice President Mian Akram Farid, former ICCI president Mian Shaukat Masud and others stressed that Pakistan and Russia should sign Free Trade Agreement to improve trade relations. The two sides discussed signing an MoU to promote connectivity between private sectors of Pakistan and Russia.
