Russian businessmen keen to invest in energy, automobile sectors

ISLAMABAD: A delegation of Russian businessmen showed keen interest to invest in Pakistan’s energy and automobile sectors during its visit to the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI).
The Russian delegation, led by Ildar Mingaleev, Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Tatarstan, held negotiations with Pakistan Petroleum Limited and Oil and Gas Development Corporation to explore joint ventures in oil and gas exploration field. Mingaleev said Russia’s largest energy company Gazprom was interested in supplying liquefied natural gas to Pakistan, while RT Global Resources, part of Russian State Corporation Rostec, will construct the 1,100-kilometre long North South gas pipeline in Pakistan by 2020 to link LNG terminals from Karachi to Lahore.
He further said the Russian investors are also interested to invest and enter into joint ventures in Pakistan to manufacture heavy duty trucks, passenger cars, other specialised vehicles and shipbuilding manufacturing of gas turbines and compressors. Russia has established free economic zones with tangible tax benefits to foreign investors and Pakistani investors should set up textiles units in Russia to capture huge market of the region.
The Russian minister said the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan is planning to take a business delegation to Russia and ICCI members should become part of this delegation to explore business opportunities in Russia.
ICCI President Atif Ikram Sheikh, speaking at the occasion, said Russia is an important country and Pakistan wants to develop close relations with it.
Sheikh said Pakistan is now focusing on the Central Asia for trade and exports and close cooperation with Russia is a key to achieve these goals.
He said Pakistan wants to further strengthen its trade economic scientific and technical cooperation with Russia to achieve mutually beneficial results.
ICCI president said energy deficit is a problem in Pakistan due to which industrial activities are 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 several Pakistani products, including textiles, surgical instruments, leather products fruits and vegetables and others have good potential in Russia and emphasised that both countries should encourage frequent exchange of trade delegations to explore new areas for enhancing bilateral trade and economic relations.
Both the sides discussed to sign memorandum of understanding to promote connectivity between private sectors of Pakistan and Russia.