ISLAMABAD, SEPT 11 (DNA) -: Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) has called upon the government to extend all possible assistance and facilitation to exporters for focusing on Russia as it offered immense untapped opportunities for boosting exports of agricultural products.

Vice President, FPCCI Riaz Khattak said that Russian food and agricultural imports stood at USD 43 billion during 2013 while its ban on import of food products from West and Europe has created a huge opportunity for Pakistan to enhance its agricultural exports to Russia, but we didn’t tap that.

He said that Pakistan’s current trade with Russia was hovering around USD 500 million while there was great scope to improve it. He said Pakistan has the potential to promote exports of many agro products to Russia including rice, fruits & vegetables, dairy products, sea food which are in huge demand in that big market.

FPCCI Regional Standing Committee, Chairman “Ahmad Jawad said that Russia’s annual import of citrus were around USD 1.60 billion, but Pakistan’s share in them was below 3 percent, which could be significantly improved with better marketing and facilitation to exporters”.

He said Russian import of dairy products was about USD 4.3 billion and Pakistan was one of the leading milk producers in the world. He said Pakistan should focus on value addition of dairy products to grab better market share in Russia.

Jawad also said that Pakistan could also enhance export of potatoes to Russia and emphasized that Pakistani companies should bring quarantine & quality standards at par with international requirements in order to improve export of food products to Russia and Central Asian States.

FPCCI Office bearers stressed that government should fully assist and facilitate the private sector in identifying all exportable agricultural products in Russian market and help them in improving quality standards for taking full advantage of available export opportunities in this huge market.

They also invite of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation to visit Pakistan to strengthen business to business contacts and mutually we played a pivot role to strengthen the economic relationship between two countries, as Pakistan is an important country for Russia in the current scenario.=DNA