LAHORE: Consul General of Iran Mehran Movahedfar said on Tuesday that Pakistan-Iran needed to make Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) effective.
Talking to business community here at Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), he said, “We need to focus on preferential trade agreements.” The Iranian government was in the process of following up on it while the Pakistani Chambers should also follow up on it. He said that the problems of banking channels had started since 2010. “We need to create a Conflict Resolution Committee or system that will be the responsibility of a financial institution,” he maintained.
He mentioned, “We have presented our suggestions in this regard. Three months ago, the Governor of the State Bank of Iran came to Karachi and signed the agreement for the Conflict Resolution Committee. This is an important step that will resolve the disputes between traders on both sides.”
The Consul General said that tragic terrorism incident in Pakistan had underlined the need for strengthening relations between the two countries in other fields apart from economic relations. Cooperation needed to fight terrorism, a common threat to both countries, he maintained.
The Consul General said that terrorism was a common affliction and it required joint action to combat it. He said that Iran preferred to develop relations with neighboring countries. “Keeping this in mind, we have to determine the size of our relationship for the long term,” he said.
He said that Pakistan and Iran had a common border of 900 kilometers. “Our capacity requires planning together. Both the countries can multiply the volume of trade with the cooperation of various institutions and ministries,” he observed. He said that businessmen of the both sides were not satisfied with the current trade volume.
The Consul General said that it was sad to say that despite the cooperation of the two governments regarding barter trade, there had been no improvement, asserting that difficulties were faced by the companies exporting rice from Pakistan, due to which many companies refused to continue cooperation.
He said that Iran had banned Indian rice and now there was a golden opportunity for Pakistani rice exporters. “From Pakistan we can import rice, meat to Iran and give LPG and raw materials in return.”
He said that recently, Iran had removed Preferential Agreement restrictions on import items and allowed the import of Kinnos from Pakistan. It was expected that Pakistan would not obstruct the import of Iranian apples and kiwis.
He said that Punjab was an agricultural province and they wanted the agricultural chambers of Iran to be connected with Punjab. He said that importance of exchange of delegations could not be denied. He said that 50 percent of the market in Iran was captured by Pakistani rice. “We want you to cooperate with us for the first exhibition of Iranian
products,” he suggested.
LCCI President Kashif Anwar said that there were excellent working relations between Lahore Chamber and Consulate General of Iran in Lahore. He said that both the countries had large domestic markets and unique geo-strategic competitive advantages but both had yet to enhance their trade volume by making use of these opportunities.
He said that potential sectors where Pakistan and Iran could enhance trade were value-added textiles, pharmaceuticals and rice. “Iran is one of the biggest consumers of Denim in the region while Pakistani rice has a strong market in Iran. There is also a great potential for the pharmaceutical Industry in Pakistan to enhance its exports by tapping the Iranian
market,” he said.
He said that lack of sound banking channels was the prime cause of this low trade volume. Both Iran and Pakistan should collaborate to devise a specialized mechanism for enhancing trade. The presence of Iranian financial institution in Pakistan could greatly help in this regard. Moreover, through ensuring strict vigilance from both sides on undocumented trade, they could also improve the figures of formal trade, he added.
The LCCI President hoped that there would be a regular exchange of export-oriented delegations for bridging the communication gap among the private sector representatives from both the countries. This would help both in gaining knowledge and understating about each other’s markets.
He said, “Our businessmen should look into OIC countries market first for preferential trade and then explore rest of the world’s market. If the Muslim countries enhance the trade, all countries will lift their level of development up.”
Commercial Head, Consulate of Iran Murteza Forati, Convener LCCI Standing Committee on Pakistan Iran Business Promotion Syed Ali Raza Rizvi also spoke on the occasion.
