Russia seeks access to Middle East, Africa through Pakistan: officials
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ISLAMABAD: Russia invited Pakistani business community to participate in the Expo 2025 that will be held in the Ekaterinburg city of Russia .
A delegation of Russian Federation led by Alexander G. Visokinskiy, Deputy Governor of the Sverdlovsk Region visited Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry on Wednesday.
Ekaterinburg is the geographical centre of the Russian Federation and the Capital of the Urals, one of the largest commercial, scientific and industrial cosmopolitan centres.
Ekaterinburg has the well-developed infrastructure, modern transport system, technoparks and other facilities.Speaking at the occasion, Alexander G. Visokinskiy said that Russia never hosted an Expo before and for the first time, it was going to organize World Expo 2025 designed as a Smart City that would live on after the event.
He said more than 140 countries will participate in the Expo that would be the largest international event covering an area of 555 hectares. He said the Expo would provide a good platform for demonstration of technical, technological, industrial, cultural and social achievements.
He said the Expo would provide Pakistani business community with a good opportunity to demonstrate their good quality products and enhance their business prospect. They would also be able to hold business negotiations and strengthen cooperation with international participants.
Speaking at the occasion, Sheikh Amir Waheed, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that Pakistan and Russia enjoyed good relations, but given the size of the economies of both countries, their bilateral trade of less than $500 million was not encouraging.
He said both countries were doing trade in limited items and they should focus on diversification of trade to achieve mutually beneficial results.
He said Russia has good expertise in energy, engineering and other sectors and it could help Pakistan in many fields of economy.
He said both countries have also good potential to develop strong defence cooperation. He said Pakistan could provide Russia better market access to South Asia, Middle East, Africa and other countries. Similarly, Pakistan could achieve better market access to Central Asia through Russia. Thus their close cooperation would mutually benefit for them.
