TEHRAN: Iran exported commodities worth $704 million to Pakistan during the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-October 22), the spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) announced.
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 $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, Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) and 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 ICCIMA Head 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 and FPCCI will also resolve the trade disputes between businessmen and traders through a channel separated from the two countries’ legal systems.
During their visit to Pakistan, the Iranian delegates also attended a meeting with officials from the State Bank of Pakistan (the country’s central bank) in which the two sides discussed details of a barter trade mechanism between the two countries.
The Zahedan Chamber of Commerce from Iran and the Quetta Chamber of Commerce and Industries (QCCI) from Pakistan have been put in charge as coordinators for implementing and pursuing the barter trade mechanism between the two sides.
As reported, at the end of the meeting the two sides agreed to form a 10-member committee to work on the details of the mechanism and follow up on the related issues in the future.
Solving currency and customs issues for the easy passage of transit trucks and accelerating the implementation of the free trade agreement between Iran and Pakistan, along with using Iran’s membership status in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), were also among the issues that were discussed in the meeting.
Details of the barter trade mechanism were also discussed in another meeting with the members of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KCCI) during that visit.
Speaking in the meeting, KCCI Head Mohammad Tariq Yousuf mentioned the unsatisfactory level of trade between the two countries and noted that the barter trade agreement would open new windows for the expansion of trade ties between the two sides.
Shafeie for his part mentioned Karachi as the economic capital of Pakistan, saying that despite the significant capacities on both sides, the level of commercial relations between the two countries is still very limited.
During their stay in Pakistan, the 26-member Iranian delegation, comprised of the head of the Iran-Pakistan Joint Chamber of commerce, the heads of the three provincial chambers of Isfahan, Zanjan, and Zahedan, the secretary general of the ECO chamber of commerce, and four MPs, visited the cities of Karachi and Lahore.
Promoting bilateral trade to five billion dollars was said to be among the main objectives of this visit.
After the trip of Iranian trade delegation to Pakistan, Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) and Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (TCCIMA) signed an MOU to pursue and develop free trade with Pakistan.
