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News ID: 96316
Publish Date : 07 November 2021 - 21:25

Iran Asks Pakistan to Use Local Currencies in Mutual Trade

TEHRAN – Iranian Minister of Agriculture, Seyyed Javad Sadati Nejad in a meeting with the visiting Advisor to Prime Minister of Pakistan for Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood in Tehran Sunday said that one of the policies of the new Iranian administration is to expand relations with the neighbors through a barter system.
The two officials weighed plans for the exchange of agricultural commodities as a way to obviate the need for the financial transactions that have been hampered by the U.S. sanctions against Tehran.
The Iranian minister of agriculture referred to the historical relations between Iran and Pakistan, saying that the two countries share many commonalities in terms of borders, religion, culture, and ethnic groups.
These commonalities can bring better trade conditions to the two countries, he added.
Sadati Nejad said that Iran and Pakistan can use any opportunity to complement each other.
Iran enjoys the potentiality to export dates and apples to Pakistan and in return, it can import sesame and rice from its South-Eastern neighbor, the Iranian minister said.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Sadati Nejad pointed to the problems resulting from the anti-Iran sanctions that put hurdles on the way of Iran’s trade with neighbors.
The agriculture minister also said that using a barter trade system with neighbors to circumvent the sanctions is one of the top policies of the new Iranian administration.
Abdul Razak Dawood, for his part, said that any improvement in trade and economic cooperation with Iran is very important, adding that the Iran-Pakistan trade volume should be expanded, especially in the field of agriculture.
Iran and Pakistan play an important role in linking the regional countries of Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan, the Pakistani official added.
Referring to the two countries’ potentialities, he said “Pakistan has rice and Iran has oil and petrochemicals, which we can exchange these goods.”
“We are aware of the conditions of sanctions against Iran and we are looking for a mechanism to establish an effective and useful relationship with Iran, so we are proposing the barter system,” said the senior adviser to the Pakistani prime minister for trade and investment.
Dawood added, “We have the possibility of exporting products such as quinoa, mango and citrus to Iran and we hope that the existing problems for trade relations will be resolved in the wake of relations with Iran.”
He said Pakistan is ready to barter its rice for Iran’s oil and petrochemical products.
The Pakistani adviser also noted that his country can export quinoa, mango and citrus fruits to Iran.
In remarks at the 9th meeting of Iran-Pakistan Joint Trade Committee, held on Saturday, Abdul Razak Dawood said Pakistan is willing to expand the trade relations with Iran by removing obstacles and diversifying the economic interaction.