Karachi -  The Ambassador of Russian Federation in Pakistan Alexey Y. Dedov has said that next meeting of Russia-Pakistan Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation will hopefully be organised this year.
Speaking at a meeting during his visit to Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Thursday, the Russian Ambassador said that various issues and hurdles in way of smooth trade between the two countries will be discussed in the meeting.  He said some Memorandums of Understandings have already been signed for various energy projects in Pakistan but there are some issues which are likely to be settled in the framework for the next meeting of Russia-Pakistan intergovernmental commission.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar will be representing Pakistan at Russia-Pakistan intergovernmental commission this year, he said, adding that that the Russian government has high hopes over the functioning and mechanism of this intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation. The Ambassador further informed that the Russian government was seriously working on organising a single country exhibition in Pakistan by September 2014, which will certainly help in further improving trade ties between the two countries.
He said, “There is no trade gap between the two countries $550 million but it does not correspond to the existing potential and also does not correspond to the development of political relations between the two countries which is a problem.”
“The Pakistani government has not decided the fate of Pakistan Steel. First, we need to know the fate of Pakistan Steel and as soon as it is defined, we can then formulate proposals for the revival of Pakistan Steel.”
Speaking on the occasion, President KCCI Abdullah Zaki said that the Russian Federation and Pakistan have exemplary cooperation in wide-ranging fields and in the present global economic scenario, both countries are exploring new avenues of long-term multi-faceted partnership.
He said that the bilateral trade between Pakistan and Russia was expanding but at a relatively slow pace and the present trade volume does not reflect true trade potential between the two countries.
Senior Vice President KCCI, Muffasar A. Malik, Vice President KCCI, Muhammad Idrees, Former SVP, Shamim Ahmed Firpo, and other Managing Committee members also attended the meeting whereas the Consul General of Russian Federation in Karachi, Oleg N Avdeev accompanied the Russian Ambassador during his visit to KCCI.