Russia opens honorary consul office in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Russia inaugurated the office of its honourary consul here on Sunday to boost bilateral trade which has gone up by 33 percent during the last one year.

This was stated by Russian Ambassador to Pakistan Alexey Yurievich Dedov, who was speaking at his meeting on Monday with the business community of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during his visit to the Chamber House.

The Russian envoy said trade between the two countries has jumped to $541 million from $400 million of the corresponding period of the previous year recording an increase of 33 percent.

Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) President, Zahidullah Shinwari, Trade Commissioner of Russian Embassy, Yuri Kozlov, Senior Vice President SCCI, Muhammad Naeem Butt and a number of businessmen were present at the meeting.

Alexey Yurievich Dedov admitted Pakistan and Russia trade was low, but it was increasing steadily.He said there was a lot of potential to increase the trade volume between the two countries and his was country taking steps to explore that potential.

The Russian diplomat underlined the need for measures to boost bilateral trade by exploiting the potential existing for such trade between Pakistan and Russian.Russian Embassy is opening office of the honourary consul in Peshawar to accelerate mutual trade, Alexey Yurievich said and stressed the need for increased contacts between the governments, businessmen and people of the two countries.

During his interactions with the business community leaders, Russian envoy assured the businessmen of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of all out cooperation to bolster bilateral trade, economic cooperation and promote investment. The Russian ambassador also held out assurance to bring high-tech machinery in Pakistan to speed up exploration of oil and gas, mining, transport and hydropower generation in the province.

Alexey Yurievich maintained that Russian investors were keen on investing in Pakistan and recently a Russian company concluded agreement to set up oil refinery in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while another company has shown interest to help modernize Pakistan Railway.

Earlier in his welcome address, Shinwari invited Russia to take advantage of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). He urged Russia to develop road network in Wakhan corridor through Lowari tunnel to carry out its exports to the gulf region.

Shinwari said Pakistan, particularly Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, could benefit from the $16 billion Russian import of agricultural products by exporting organic agriculture products to that country.

The SCCI chief said frequent exchanges of business delegations would go a long in significantly improving bilateral trade.Later, in the evening the Russian envoy performed the inauguration of the office of the honourary consul at the local hotel where honourary consul Arsala Khan, a local businessman, was also present.

Alexey Yurievich said opening of office of honorary consul general in Peshawar open a window on new opportunities to promote commercial and people-to-people contacts between the two countries.

He further said that concerted mutual efforts and cooperation and would help bring Pakistan and Russia closer.Speaking on the occasion, honourary consul Arsala Khan assured the business community of the province of cooperation and support, saying that communicating potential of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to Russian businessmen would be his priority.