Pakistan improves facilities at border points with Iran: envoy

Pakistan’s Ambassador to Iran Muhammad Mudassir Tipu has said that facilities at two border points between the two countries have been beefed up as part of efforts to facilitate trade and trips by passengers.
“Absolutely delighted to share that to facilitate Zaireen, business community and promote bilateral trade- immigration facilities at Taftan and Gabd border have been substantially beefed up. Now almost 4-6,000 passengers can cross both points everyday”, the ambassador said on his X account on Saturday. He also said in his post on X, formerly Twitter that relations between Iran and Pakistan “see promising future”.

The value of Iran’s non-oil exports to Pakistan in the first four months of 2024 has reached $360 million, showing an 18 percent growth compared to last year’s corresponding period.
The Pakistani Ministry of Commerce’s statistics show that Pakistan has imported $360 million in products from Iran in the first four months of 2024, 18 percent higher than in January-April 2023. Pakistan’s import of products from Iran in April 2024 has hit $73.2 million, registering a 30 percent growth compared to the same month last year.

The value of Iran’s exports to Pakistan totaled $944 million in 2023, indicating a 13 percent rise compared to a year earlier. In a meeting between the Head of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Samad Hassanzadeh and Pakistani Ambassador to Iran Muhammad Mudassir Tipu in Tehran on Sunday, the officials stressed the need for Iran and Pakistan to exercise barter trade and free trade to materialize a $10 billion trade target. Noting that Tehran and Islamabad can cooperate in different areas including pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, energy, auto parts, techno-engineering services, and electronics, he said that the ground is also prepared for cooperation on health tourism. Hassanzadeh further stressed that an agreement for activating a joint trade council between the two neighboring countries is still in place.

The Iran Chamber of Commerce president said that the two countries have had many talks on the launch of a barter trade system while no practical step has been taken. He called on the Pakistani government to ease visa requirements for Iranian businesspeople.
The Pakistani ambassador, for his part, referred to his country’s agreement with the late Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi for increasing bilateral trade to $10 billion, adding that Islamabad continues to pursue this agreement.

The Pakistani government has decided for the joint border customs to work round the clock, the ambassador said, adding that it would be very effective if Iran also decides to do so. He noted that the trade balance is one of the main obstacles on the way of trade between the two neighbors, as he said Iran’s exports to Pakistan stand at $1.6 billion while Pakistan’s exports to Iran are so insignificant. He believed that the exercise of free trade rests upon win-win connections. The ambassador added that if the Iran Chamber of Commerce recommends businesspersons to the embassy, there would be no problem with the issuance of visas for traders.