ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastgir Khan has presided over a meeting to prepare proposals and chalk out a comprehensive strategy for enhancing trade cooperation with Iran in the wake of the visit of the Iranian president to Pakistan.
The minister said that Pakistan is interested in holding exhibitions in Iran frequently to showcase the range of exportable Pakistani products. He said Pakistan was in consultations with the Iran regarding the approvals of these exhibitions.
The meeting was attended by the officials from Ministry of National Food Security and Research, State Bank of Pakistan, Federal Board of Revenue, traders exporting their items to Iran and representatives of rice and kinnow associations. Two officials of the Iranian Ministry of Trade, visiting Pakistan, also attended the meeting on the special request of Dastgir. The collector customs, Quetta informed the meeting that there was a three-fold increase in revenue generation at Pak-Iran border due to better border management, which discouraged illicit trade.
The representatives of the SBP told there was no restriction on trade with the Iranian companies in Euro through formal banking channels, and the SBP was encouraging Pakistan’s private sector to resume normal trade with Iran.
The exporters of rice, kinnow, fruits, vegetables and the local exporters of Balochistan briefed the Iranian officials in detail about the difficulties faced by them in exporting their products to Iran.
The Iranian officials assured them that they would bring these issues to the notice of the relevant authorities back in Iran. Dastgir said that Pakistan wanted to enhance its exports to Iran by exporting home appliances, light engineering and value-added textile products.
The meeting was informed that there was high demand for food items in Iran and Pakistan had secured an export order of 100 metric tonnes of meat to Iran. This would open doors for more export contracts in the food sector in near future. Dastgir said that relevant authorities in the Ministry of Health of Iran would be persuaded to fast track the process of issuing licences to the Pakistani rice mills and rice exporters, in order to regain the share of rice market in Iran which was lost during the sanctions.
