TEHRAN - The Pakistani city of Lahore hosted a meeting to explore the opportunities to increase trade volume between Iran and Pakistan to $10 billion, a target that was agreed upon during the last visit of the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to the neighboring country.

The Thursday meeting was attended by ambassadors of Iran and Pakistan, as well as officials from the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), to explore opportunities to increase trade volume between the two countries to the $10 billion.

At the outset of the meeting, Pakistani officials and traders discussed the obstacles hampering business activities between the two nations. These included the lack of banking channels, the necessity of building a gas pipeline from Iran to Pakistan, the implementation of a barter mechanism, the need to expedite the finalization of a free trade agreement, and the importance of holding specialized exhibitions of Pakistani goods similar to the Iranian initiative in organizing Iran Expo.

Iranian Ambassador to Islamabad, Reza Amiri Moghadam, highlighted the significant capacity of the Chabahar port, suggesting that Pakistani economic players and traders can leverage this port to access the Iranian market and transfer their goods to Western Asian and European markets.

On the other hand, Pakistani Ambassador to Iran, Muhammad Mudassir Tipu, pointed to the important tourism and economic capacities in the Islamic Republic of Iran, emphasizing the need for the Pakistani government and private sector to utilize these opportunities.

Zaki Aijaz, the regional head of the FPCCI, stated that the two countries need to boost joint efforts to increase bilateral trade to the $10 billion target.

EF/