The Russian and Pakistani businessmen should exploit the huge untapped potential through strong B2B contacts and joint ventures. Trade Representative of Russian Embassy Yury Kozlov stated this while talking to Vice President of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Faheem-ur-Rehman Saigal at the LCCI office while executive committee members were also present on the occasion.
The Russian Trade Representative said both the countries should take sector specific measures to enhance the mutual trade that does not reflect the existing potential. He expressed the optimism that both Pakistan and Russian businessmen could enter into joint ventures to benefit each other in their respective businesses and could take to level of bilateral trade to new heights with a little sector specific effort.
LCCI Vice President Faheem-ur-Rehman Saigal said that other than private to private contacts, the governments of both our countries are also establishing close ties with each other which are a good sign. Both countries should take concrete measures to strengthen the trade and economic ties.
It is encouraging to see that the bilateral trade is on the rise and both imports and exports are picking up. In 2017, the volume of bilateral trade was US $442 million and increased to $532 million in 2018. Faheem-ur-Rehman Saigal said that Pakistan has unfavourable balance of trade with Russia. Our exporters have to be encouraged to explore Russian market. Establishment of banking channels can bring drastic improvement in the present scenario, he said.
The visa facilitation can be another instrument to let the people of both the countries develop networking with each other. The Embassies of Pakistan and Russia should give preferential treatment for visa processing on reciprocal basis, he added.