MULTAN,Russian Trade Representative in Pakistan Mr. Yury Kozlov met Khawaja Muhammad Younas President of Dera Ghazi Khan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI)and exchanged views on bilateral trade ties between Pakistan and Russia, CPEC and economic condition of the region.He frankly spoke on the bilateral trade which improved to US$660 million during the last year which is expected to reach around US$750 to US$800 million by year end.“Russia had offered assistance in the expansion of Pakistan Steel Mills while Russia’s Gazprom has also shown interest in financing Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project”, he added. Khawaja Muhammad Younas said that there was an opportunity for Russians to import Textile, Leather,agricultural products from Multan.
Highlighting the potential areas of enhancing cooperation between Pakistan and Russia M.Anees Khawaja and Khawaja Mohsin informed the guest that Mango, Kinnow,dates,potato, onion and other vegetables besides leather and textile products are in abundance in this region. Japanese and Russian companies can do joint venture in Tunnel farming, Fisheries,horticulture and agriculture. Russian can provide modern technology for food processing and agriculture mechanisation. Russia should develop trading houses of Japanese model to provide access to Pakistani exporters to its markets. Mr.Kozlov diclosed that Russia was organising a trading programme in Moscow in March to resolve the problems confronted by the traders in bilateral trade with Pakistan.He hoped that this event would be helpful in promoting bilateral trade and removing the bottlenecks.Yuri Kozlov informed that Russia was engaged in numerous projects and was cooperating with Pakistan in the construction of north and south gas pipeline from Karachi to Lahore and also engaged in a project at Jamshoro Power Plant for production of 600 MW. “Russia had offered assistance in the expansion of Pakistan Steel Mills while Russia’s Gazprom has also shown interest in financing Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project”, he added. M.Anees Khawaja further said that Pakistani food exporters can capitalize on the ban imposed by the Russian government on agricultural imports from European countries in order to enhance their exports to Russia. Pakistan can export livestock, meat, apple, mango, citrus and seafood to Russian markets, he opined. Khawaja Abdul Haq,Dr.Shahid Hassan(Coordinater) acting secretary General of MCCI Muhammad Shafiq were also present there.
