Pakistan, Iran should devise barter trade payment mechanism: Maggo

KARACHI: President FPCCI, Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo has urged the governments of Pakistan and Iran to come up with a payment mechanism based on barter trade. FPCCI chief also expressed his interest to understand the mechanism that how Iran and Iraq have achieved bilateral trade volume of US 18 billion dollars annually.

Maggo stated this while meeting the delegates from Iran's business community, trade officials and ambassadorial staff at Federation House. He maintained that current level of merely US one billion dollars bilateral trade is insufficient and the two brotherly countries can achieve $ 5 billion mark within a short span if the right sectors are targeted and conducive policies formulated for trade facilitation.

The Iranian delegation headed by Ahmed Amirabadi Farahani, Chairman Iran-Pakistan Friendship Group put forward two proposals to enhance bilateral trade swiftly:

(i) The two countries should start barter trade on a mass-scale; incorporating as many sectors as possible.

(ii) Iran and Pakistan should collectively set up multiple large marketplaces in their respective border areas.

They also suggested that FPCCI should prepare a list of Pakistani products that have huge duties and tariffs imposed by Iran on Pakistani exporters; so that, they can take up the matter with the relevant authorities in Iran.

Najam Ul Hassan Jawa, Chairman FPCCI's Pak-Iran Business Council, said that Pakistan and Iran can contribute towards their economic growth through benefitting from enormous regional and border trade potential.

Maggo urged Abdul Razzak Dawood, Advisor to PM on Commerce & Investment, to take FPCCI recommendations into account before commencing his upcoming official visit to Iran.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021