Although Russia has a huge market and the country depends to a large extent on imports for textile and clothing items, Pakistan's share in Russian imports is insignificant at present.
In an interview, Mr. Muhammad Farooq Afzal, Chairman, Pak-Russia Business Council, said, "The share of Pakistan in textile and textile item exports to Russian market, at the moment, is less than US$ 100 million, which is very less as Russia imports about US$ 10.775 billion of textiles and garments
every year."
Informing about the factors inhibiting Pakistan's textile and garment exports to Russia, he says, "From the Government side, there is no incentive or motivational step taken to promote and increase exports to the Russian Federation. Secondly, the private sector has a negative image as there are
payment problems in Russia."
Briefing about the steps being taken to improve Pakistan's textile and clothing exports to Russia, he says, "We are trying to improve our exports to Russia and for that the private sector would play a very vital role. Besides, we have given a proposal to the Pakistan Government as well as the Russian Government and associations, which if considered, would really boost our exports."
"Recently we have set up an Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Business Forum that includes 10 countries including Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Through the Forum, we are focusing on Ukraine and the Russian Federation. I hope the private sector has realized the potential of these markets and have directed their strategies towards these countries and I am pretty sure that our exports will rise," he concluded.
