Tehran Chamber for raising trade with Islamabad

Sees huge potential for improving trade and investment ties

KARACHI: Tehran Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TCCI) President Masoud Khansari has said that instead of waiting for trade promotion strategies to be devised at the government level, business communities will have to sit together and make collective efforts with a view to further promoting trade and investment cooperation between the two neighbouring countries.

He stressed the need for enhancing interaction between the business communities of Iran and Pakistan in various sectors of the economy through the regular exchange of trade delegations and organising exhibitions to promote bilateral trade relations.

Speaking at a meeting during his visit to the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), he said, “Tehran Chamber and Karachi Chamber will have to seriously focus on connecting various Iranian and Pakistani companies with each other, besides holding regular interaction to discuss and explore trade and investment-related opportunities in Iran and Pakistan.”

He said due to the sanctions, Iran had focused on producing the required products and services on its own and also strived to improve bilateral trade with regional and neighbouring countries so that the Iranian economy could stay afloat.

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He was of the view that the official and documented bilateral trade between the two countries stood at around $1.5 billion but the overall trade figure, including the unofficial and undocumented trade, must be somewhere between $3 and $4 billion.

“Iran’s trade volume with Iraq stood at $13 billion and at around $10 billion with the UAE, followed by substantial trade with Turkey and others. We look forward to seeing Pakistan at the same level in terms of trade volume which Iran has been enjoying with Iraq, the UAE, etc.”

Khansari said, “There are a lot of similarities and a huge potential to improve trade and investment ties, hence the two chambers must make collective efforts. In this regard, information about capable companies having good reputation must be shared to facilitate trade while equal attention must also be paid to follow-ups on numerous deals.”

He requested Karachi Chamber to send a high-level trade delegation to Iran after Ramazan in order to explore new avenues of trade and investment cooperation and discuss ways and means as to how numerous trade barriers and obstacles could be dealt with effectively.

Also speaking on the occasion, Iranian Consul General Ahmed Mohammadi stated that the commercial section of Iranian Consulate had been making efforts to promote trade and investment between the two countries. The business community of Karachi must come forward to strengthen trade ties with its Iranian counterparts, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2020.

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