Sunday, December 29, 2013 – Faisalabad—“Russian envoy stressed on technical and economic cooperation between Russian and Pakistan. Investment in energy sector of Pakistan is already being made by Russian companies,” said Yuri Kozlov, Head of Trade Representative of Russian Federation at the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI).
He also pledged to make an all-out effort to remove bottlenecks from the smooth way to promotion of bilateral trade ties, and said as Russia was very keen to enhance the trade and business ties with Pakistan, Yuri Kozlov was finding out opportunities available in Pakistan, particularly for the traders, investors and tourists.
He agreed to FCCI proposal regarding the regular exchange of trade information and trade delegations to enhance bilateral trade volume between the two countries. He urged both the countries for technical and economic cooperation as well tourism aspect.
Investment in energy sector of Pakistan is already being made by Russian companies, further will also be encouraged, he told. On the occasion, the FCCI president Engr Suhail bin Rashid told that Faisalabad has elevated from ‘Textile Manchester’ to ‘Textile Capital of Pakistan’ contributing approximately 50 percent of the total national textile exports.
He further added, the volume of bilateral trade between Pakistan and Russian Federation is approx. $432.7 million in 2012, but this is not as high relative to the size of their economies. During the year 2012, our total exports to Russian Federation were USD186.19 million whereas total imports stood at $246.51 million, thus the balance of trade were in favour of Russian Federation. Russia has a huge market and the country depends to a large extent on imports for textile.