According to a news item appearing in Customs Today the anti-smuggling staff of the Customs Department in Hyderabad has seized 35,000 litres oil and 17,000 metre cloth last month which was being smuggled from Iran.
Fortunately, Pakistan has a unique geographical location as it is part of South Asia, but its south-west corner is in the Middle East and northern side is close to the Central Asia. Unfortunately, its business centers are far from the countries like Iran and China which have friendly relations with Pakistan, but hostilities prevail on the borders with India and Afghanistan, which are close to our business centers.
In the modern world, political hostilities are not allowed to impress upon the business relations between countries. The instance of Europe is before us where two World Wars had been fought for years but now the borders in Europe are now mere conventional, undisputed and customary. The European Union has the same visa regime, same currency and identical views on domestic and international affairs.
Iran is our neighboring country and holds the world’s third-largest proven oil reserves and the second-largest natural gas reserves, but political implications have always hindered mutual trade and investment between the two countries. The much-publicised Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline project is in doldrums and the brotherly countries have failed to reap the benefits of their close affinity. When legal ways are blocked with illogical mind, illegal ways make their ways to encroach the country’s laws.
Iran is advanced economy with strong industrial base. Apart from petroleum products the textile and ceramic industry of Iran is developing at a fast rate. Pakistan has long been a good market for Iranian blankets and woolen sweaters which are available in every commercial centre of the country in winter. Now Iran’s ceramic industry is also progressing with leaps and bounds, but international sanctions have been implemented and it needs markets for its products in the neighbouring countries. In the absence of any effective trade and investment agreement between Pakistan and Iran, the Iranian products make their ways into Pakistan to threaten the local industry. Earlier, Pakistan had decided to import 165 million liters of Iranian diesel, crude oil and refined products annually. The import of oil from Iran not only will reduce transportation cost but will also increase the volume of bilateral and it will be comparatively cheaper than Saudi Arabia and other gulf states. Iran already exports gasoline, diesel, oil, and kerosene to Iraq, Afghanistan and East Asian countries. It is time Pakistan and Iran to ink agreements to increase trade between the two countries and block illegal trade.
