Iran, Pakistan to Expand Bilateral Trade

Tehran, Iran | January 20, 2008 by D-8 Secretariat

Iran’s ambassador to Islamabad has termed trade relations between Iran and Pakistan in recent years as good and hoped for further growth.

Mashallah Shokri, Iran’s envoy to Pakistan, in his meeting with Asif Shah, Pakistan’s deputy minister of commerce, emphasized the need for the establishment of a joint trade committee to work toward eliminating obstacles to further growth in bilateral trade, IRNA reported.

The insufficient level of banking cooperation, the absence of a joint trade committee, lack of active participation by the private sectors of the two countries, and inadequate information on each other’s potentialities are among the obstacles in the path of further expansion of bilateral trade, Shokri said. Infrastructural constraints like unsuitable roads, the poor quality of the railroad linking the two countries and the inadequate number of flights between the two capitals were among the obstacles in the path of further expansion of bilateral trade relations, he added.

Referring to Iran’s considerable capabilities in technical and engineering fields, he expressed Iran’s willingness to export these services to Pakistan. During the meeting, Asif Shah referred to the slight reduction in the volume of trade between the two countries in the past two years and pointed to some of the problems facing Pakistani exporters such as Iran’s decision to increase import tariffs on some Pakistani goods and delays in clearing its export items by Iran’s customs authorities.

The two sides expressed hope that all obstacles would soon be eliminated, allowing for unimpeded expansion of bilateral trade.

D-8 Organization expressed hope that the increasing bilateral trade of both countries can set as agenda and targets withing the D-8 framework of cooperation. Pakistan will be hosting the 9th HLTO meeting to complete the RoO talks for PTA ratification this year.

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