TEHRAN- The value of Iran’s non-oil export to Pakistan rose 13 percent in the first quarter of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-June 21), from that of the same quarter in the previous year, the spokesman of Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) announced.

Ruhollah Latifi said that Iran exported commodities worth $279 million to Pakistan in the three-month period of this year.

The country also imported goods valued at $196 million from its neighbor in the first quarter of this year, which was 208 percent higher than the imports in the first quarter of the previous year, the official added.

Pakistan was Iran’s sixth major export destination and fourth main source of import in the first quarter of the current year.

Increasing non-oil exports to the neighboring countries is one of the major plans that the Iranian government has been pursuing in recent years.

In early April, Pakistani Ministry of Commerce has issued a statutory regulatory order (SRO) to put into effect a barter trade agreement reached with Iran back in November 2021.

“Barter trade has tremendous importance to increase regional trade to overcome foreign exchange and other challenges,” the ministry said in a statement.

Pakistani Ambassador to Iran Rahim Hayat Qureshi has also pointed to the decision as a welcoming development, saying: “It will provide a boost in our exports to Iran, especially of rice.”

Qureshi urged the two countries' private sectors to step forward and take advantage of the given opportunity.

He stated that the embassy would stand ready to provide all possible assistance to the private sector in this regard. “The embassy looks forward to hosting different chambers, especially Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) in Tehran to give further impetus to our exports to Iran.”

Iran and Pakistan reached an agreement to use barter trade in order to boost bilateral trade in the face of U.S. sanctions during the two countries’ ninth Joint Economic Committee meeting which was held in Tehran back in November 2021.

Co-chaired by Iranian Industry, Mining, and Trade Minister Reza Fatemi-Amin and Pakistan’s Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood, the meeting was attended by high-ranking Iranian and Pakistani officials 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.

MA/MA