ISLAMABAD (Dispatches) - Chairman of Pakistan-Iran Business Council (PIBC) Syed Ali Reza Razavi says that a large delegation of Pakistani businessmen will participate in Tehran Expo 2018.
Tehran Expo 2018 to run from October 20-23 in Tehran.
 "Iran and Pakistan have already agreed to enhance their bilateral trade to $5 billion by 2021 as the current trade volume is around $1.16 billion,” Iran News Agency (IRNA) quoted Syed Ali Reza Razavi as saying.  

The Pakistani official said that it is very encouraging to see that new Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan in his first speech has expressed desire to work closely with Iran.

Member of Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) expressing his views nas  added the business communities of the two countries should enter into joint ventures and sign MoUs which would pave the way for Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

He added that despite lack of banking channel the two countries are doing trade using alternative mechanisms.

Razavi went on to say that rice is main Pakistani product which covers most of the Pakistani exports to Iran due to its high quality and flavor. He noted that Iran is the second top importer of rice in the world and is a big market for Pakistani rice.

He added that both countries need to take more measures to further enhance their rice trade.

"It is good that Iran's exports to Pakistan in the first quarter (March 21-June 20) of this year (started on March 21) rose by 61 percent compared to the figure in the same period the previous year,” he said.

China, the UAE, Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea, India and Turkey have been among the most important target markets for the Iranian exported goods in the first three months of this Iranian year.

Razavi said that Iran and Pakistan have already signed Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) which should be further expanded.

The businessman added that lack of banking channel between Iran and Pakistan is a major hurdle to expansion of the bilateral trade ties. He said that in 2017 central banks of Iran and Pakistan signed a currency swap agreement which is yet to be implemented.