TEHRAN – Prior to the official visit of Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi to Pakistan, a delegation of Pakistani officials visited Iran to discuss ways of expanding economic ties and negotiate the preparation of the agreements expected to be signed during President Raisi’s visit to their country.

The Iranian president is scheduled to pay an official visit to Pakistan on April 22.

In this regard on Saturday, the heads of customs from Iran and Pakistan met and held talks to enhance trade relations and reached an agreement to eliminate customs barriers and facilitate trade.

Mohammad Rezvanifar, the Head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), and his Pakistani counterpart, Fareed Iqbal Qureshi, have jointly agreed on 15 articles aimed at boosting commercial exchanges between the two countries. Their focus is on streamlining trade processes and removing obstacles.

During their discussions, they explored the implementation of electronic information exchange by establishing an executive team from both sides. Additionally, they discussed providing customs facilities to expedite goods clearance in the Chabahar Free Zone and ways to pave the way for Iranian trucks to enter Pakistan’s territory.

The two parties also emphasized cooperation between Pakistani companies and the Iranian transportation fleet. They aim to enhance the capacity for accepting trucks at common customs borders, particularly on the Pakistani side. Additionally, they underscored the importance of coordinating customs authorities’ activities and advancing the TIR Convention for the shared borders in Rimdan and Pishin.

Iran’s annual export to Pakistan up 39%

According to the spokesperson of the Trade Promotion Commission of Iran’s House of Industry, Mine and Trade, Iran’s export of non-oil products to Pakistan registered a 39 percent growth in value in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended March 19, 2024), compared to a year earlier.

Rouhollah Latifi said that more than four million tons of non-oil products, valued at over $2 billion, were exported from the country to Pakistan, showing a 23 and a 39 percent hike in weight and value respectively compared to the previous year’s corresponding period.

The official added that more than 554,000 tons of products, valued at over $673 million, were imported into Iran from Pakistan last year, registering a 26 and a 33 percent decline in weight and value respectively compared to a year earlier, IRNA reported.

The officials of the two countries have targeted to enhance bilateral trade by $5 billion and effective steps have been taken in this regard to spur the trade between Tehran and Islamabad, he added.

Pakistan to begin constructing IP pipeline

On the eve of President Raisi’s visit to Pakistan, the country’s media reported that Pakistan plans to begin constructing the long-delayed IP pipeline from Gwadar port to the Iranian border soon.

According to the English-language Day News newspaper, a senior official in Pakistan's Ministry of Energy has announced that as part of President Raisi’s visit, Pakistan will redo the mapping and engineering process for the construction of an 80 km gas pipeline to the Iranian border.

It is necessary to construct an 80-kilometer gas pipeline to prevent Iran from complaining against Pakistan in international court, otherwise, it could lead to substantial penalties for Pakistan, it added.

The joint Iran-Pakistan gas project has been delayed for 10 years and was originally due to be completed in December 2015, with operations slated to start in January 2015.

Despite the U.S. expressing their opposition to the project and threatening sanctions against Pakistan, Pakistan's Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif has stated that it is their right to have an easy and cost-effective energy source from their neighboring Islamic Republic of Iran.

Iran ready to further strengthen agriculture ties with Pakistan

Iran's Ambassador to Pakistan has also announced Tehran's readiness to further strengthen agriculture ties with Islamabad, in exporting urea, chemical fertilizers, and agricultural machinery fields.

Reza Amiri Moghaddam met with Pakistan's Federal Minister of Industry and Production and National Food Security, Rana Tanveer Hussain, in Islamabad, where both sides discussed bi­lateral cooperation and issues of mutual interest.

During the meeting, Amiri said Iran’s top leader­ship is in favor of increasing close cooperation with Pakistan in all fields, reiterating the Islamic Republic's desire to further strengthen its relations with Pakistan in all areas of mutual interest.

“The field of agriculture is a decisive potential for the development of bilateral ties between the two countries, and in this regard, Iran is eager to benefit from Pakistan's agricultural products such as wheat, rice, citrus fruits, as well as live livestock and meat imports from the neighboring country," he said.

The ambassador added that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is expected to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on livestock quarantine and plant protection be­tween the two countries in his upcoming visit, and the Iranian Minister of Industry also invited the Federal Min­ister to visit Tehran to participate in the upcoming meeting of the Shang­hai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

The Pakistani minister, for his part, expressed confidence in the favorable level of bilateral relations with Iran. Referring to his official visits to Iran as Pakistan's Minister of Defense Production, he said: Islamabad is proud to host the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

He assured that Pakistan will take necessary measures to finalize the cooperation agreement related to agriculture with Iran as soon as possible.

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