LAHORE: Iranian Consul-General Reza Nazeri has stressed the need for strengthening trade ties between the two neighboring countries, saying Iran is ready for barter trade, and it will export petrochemical, steel and LPG to Pakistan while importing rice, meat and other agriculture produce from Pakistan.
While addressing the second meeting of the FPCCI Pak-Iran Business Council held here at its regional office, the Iranian consul-general said that the Iranian consulate in Lahore was ready to facilitate Pakistan's private sector in promoting bilateral trade and investment, said a statement issued here on Saturday.
He said his country had been trying to restore the air link between Tehran and Lahore as early as possible. The air link had been suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic, affecting the tourism sector of Iran, he added.
The consul-general lamented that the volume of two-way trade between Pakistan and Iran was negligible, as trade between the two countries did not match their respective potentials.
Reza Nazeri said that Pakistan and Iran had the potential to cater to each other's needs provided the businessmen have the exposure to the available opportunities. The business community in the two countries would have to increase interaction to share their experiences in the larger interests of the peoples of the two brotherly nations, he added.
The Iranian consul-general said the chambers of commerce in the two countries would have to focus on expansion of trade by holding single-country exhibitions and through sending trade delegations to each other's country.
Dissemination of sector-specific and trade-related information would go a long way in achieving the goal.
He said that agriculture, tourism and metal industry in Iran had opportunities of investment, and the Pakistani business community should come forward.
Earlier, addressing the meeting, FPCCI President Mian Anjum Nisar said the analysis of bilateral trade shows that trade between the two countries is growing at a very slow pace, as current volume of bilateral trade is just $359 million out of which Pakistani exports to Iran accounts for $36 million against imports of $323 million.
Some of the hurdles that are the reasons for low volume of trade and impeding the growth of trade between the two countries include ignorance about each other's potential and non-utilization of the territorial connectivity, he added.
In addition to these the tariff and non-tariff barriers are major obstacles in the way of trade enhancement between the two neighboring countries, he maintained.
The FPCCI chief said that all the four transportation modes - air, sea, road and rail - are available for bilateral trade between Pakistan and Iran, but, unfortunately, none of these modes of transportation is being efficiently and economically utilized at present.
The businessmen have been emphasizing that the transportation facilities must be improved for enhancement in economic relations, he said.
Transportation through land routes and railways need to be improved properly to facilitate the exporters of both sides, he added and urged both the countries to issue transport licenses by equal number of vehicles to freely work across the border, as through this step the exporters of both the countries would be able to get direct access to the consumers.
The other step is to provide proper and complete information about the products of both the countries which can be done by organizing single country exhibitions, he suggested.
Actually, various decisions regarding expansion of trade and economic relations between Pakistan and Iran have been taken up previously, he said and added that unfortunately, due to instable and unpredictable international and regional political processes, these have remained slow.
"We should study and review our bilateral PTA (preferential trade agreement) and incorporate various avenues of investment that have been emerging due to the changing regional dynamics," he added.
He reassured the Iranian consul-general that the apex chamber of the country would continue to play its role in increasing bilateral trade and economic relations.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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