Lack of proper banking channels is major bottleneck in tapping the huge potential of Pakistan and Russia bilateral trade, said Russian Commercial Consular Sergey Baranov. He was addressing a meeting at All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association (APTPMA) here Friday. The meeting was also attended by President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) Syed Zia Alumdar Hussain, SVP Mian Tanvir Ahmad and VP Engineer Ihtasham Javed in addition to the office bearers and members of the APTPMA.
Baranov said there was huge potential of bilateral trade between the two countries. "The government to government relations are excellent in different fields but we have to concentrate on promoting trade between the private sectors of the two countries." He said in this connection "we must establish banking channels so that the volume of bilateral could be enhanced manifold." Regarding Lahore-Karachi gas pipeline project, he said the agreement was inked in 2015 but work on it could not be started. He said Punjab was energy starved centre and by providing energy to it "we could not only run existing industries with their full installed capacity but also pave way to attract new investment in its industrial sector."
Syed Zia Alumdar Husain, President, Faisalabad Chamber of commerce & Industry, welcomed the Russian diplomat and said Russia was energy-rich developed country and Pakistan should get maximum benefits from this regional country. He said in order to enhance bilateral trade "we must make collective efforts to ensure peace in Afghanistan."
He also mentioned the huge opportunities in enhancing the bilateral between Pakistan and Russia and said that collective efforts should be expedited to enhance bilateral trade. He said "Russia is already working on many multi-dimensional projects but there are still huge opportunities for new investment and Russian private sector should come forward to avail these openings." Syed Zia also invited Russian Commercial Consular Sergey Baranov to visit FCCI so that matters of mutual interest could be discussed. VP FCCI Engineer Ihtasham Javed thanked that participants of the meeting and said that both governments should encourage their private sectors to enhance bilateral trade. In this connection, he suggested exchange of sector specific trade delegations.
Earlier, Engineer Rizwan Ashraf Chairman APTPMA welcomed the Russian Commercial Consular and highlighted the problems confronted by the business communities of the two countries. Later, President FCCI Syed Zia Alumdar Hussain presented APTPMA shield to the Russian diplomat.