TEHRAN – Iran and Pakistan are going to implement a free trade agreement within the next three months, Iranian Industry, Mining, and Trade Minister Reza Fatemi Amin announced on Saturday.

Fatemi Amin made the announcement on the sidelines of the ninth meeting of the two countries’ Joint Economic Committee in Tehran, IRIB reported.

Co-chaired by Fatemi Amin and Pakistan’s Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood, the meeting was attended by the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), the head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO), the head of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) as well as traders and businessmen from the two countries.

Banking relations, customs cooperation, border markets, barter trade, and coronavirus pandemic issues were among the subjects discussed at the meeting, after which the businessmen from the two sides held B2B meetings to explore avenues of mutual cooperation.

Speaking in the meeting, Fatemi Amin expressed Iran’s readiness for removing barriers in the way of the activities of Pakistani companies in Iran, saying: “With the measures taken, the existing barriers will be removed within the next three months and the trade processes will be facilitated. Hopefully, the Pakistani government will also provide Iranian companies with the same facilities.”

“By removing the existing problems and obstacles to the development of economic and trade cooperation between Iran and Pakistan the volume of trade between the two countries will increase to five billion dollars in the next two years,” he added.

We believe that cooperation between the two countries should lead to joint ventures and regional cooperation, the official noted.

“For example, we can make good investments in the dairy industry in Pakistan,” Fatemi Amin added.

Elsewhere in the meeting, Dawood for his part stressed the need for promoting economic relations between the two sides, saying: "It is necessary to promote the relations between the two countries beyond the trade of goods and to develop cultural relations between the businessmen of the two countries as well."

“This meeting will be the first step to address the problems and obstacles in the way of developing trade relations between the two countries,” Dawood said.

The official expressed his country’s willingness for expanding cooperation in various areas including transportation, barter trading, and border markets.

EF/MA