Karachi, the hub of industrial and commercial activities,
will benefit significantly from Iran’s partnership, Tesori said, expressing
readiness to cooperate with Iranian companies in this regard, IRNA reported.
Nourian
said that opening two new border crossings between the two countries over the
past two years indicates the firm determination of the Iranian and Pakistani
officials to increase the volume of bilateral trade and facilitate business.
He added that Iran-Pakistan special trade exhibition will be
held in Karachi soon, which will be a new opportunity for businessmen and the
private sectors of the two countries for using each other's capacities.
The two sides reviewed the latest developments related to
bilateral relations, including provincial interactions and the achievements
made during the recent visit of the high-level Iranian economic delegation to
Karachi, as well as holding the first meeting of the joint commercial council
of the two countries.
They also discussed developing border markets of Iran and
Pakistan on a large scale aiming to meet the mutual needs of the two countries.
The
spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) has
said Iran exported commodities worth US$704 million to Pakistan during the
first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-October 22).
Morteza
Emadi put the weight of exported goods at 1.6 million tons, and named petroleum
gases, oil bitumen, industrial dry milk, liquefied natural gas, and liquefied
butane as the major exported products.
He also
announced that Iran has imported 512,000 tons of commodities valued at US$563
million from Pakistan in the first seven months of the present year.
The official named rice, mango, sesame seeds, and banana as
the main imported items.
In late October, the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries,
Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) and the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of
Commerce and Industries (FPCCI) signed three memorandums of understanding (MoU)
with the aim of expanding economic cooperation between the private sectors of
the two countries.
The MoUs were signed during a visit of an Iranian private
sector delegation headed by Gholam-Hossein Shafeie to the Pakistani cities of
Karachi and Lahore.
Based on the signed memorandums, the two sides agreed to
strengthen comprehensive cooperation between the private sectors of the two
countries, to establish a joint trade council of Iran and Pakistan, and to
determine a mechanism to resolve trade disputes.
Accordingly, the Iran-Pakistan Joint Trade Council will work
together with the Iran-Pakistan Joint Chamber of Commerce to strengthen
economic relations between the two neighbors.
ICCIMA pays special attention to barter trade and transit as
the basis for the expansion of economic relations between Iran and Pakistan.
On November 19, 2022 ICCIMA head Shafeie made the remarks in
a meeting with Muhammad Sheryar Khan, the Pakistani consul-general in Mashhad.
He also underlined the significant cultural and historical
commonalities between Iran and Pakistan, as well as the opportunity for transit
cooperation between the two countries with Russia.
Emphasizing the need to develop Iran-Pakistan trade
relations and especially the implementation of agreements related to barter
trade, the ICCIMA head said: “The economies of Iran and Pakistan complement
each other due to the proximity of the two countries, and they have significant
capacities for cooperation in this field, the use of which will lead to a jump
in bilateral trade.”
“During the past two years, the government has taken new
measures to develop economic relations with Pakistan, and efforts in the field
of preferential trade and moving towards free trade have been put on the
agenda. However, there are still problems in the implementation of these programs
and economic interactions have not been realized as they should have been”,
Shafeie further noted.
