PESHAWAR: President Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), Sherbaz Bilour and Iranian Consul General in Peshawar Hamid Reza Ghomi agreed to make joint efforts to boost bilateral trade and economic relations between the two brotherly Islamic countries.

The agreement was signed during a meeting held at the chamber house on Wednesday, which was attended by SCCI Senior Vice President Engineer Manzoor Elahi, Iranian Second Consul (Economic section) Seyed Ebrahim Dehnadi and other high-officials of the Iranian Consulate in Peshawar.

Both sides during the meeting agreed to strengthen the Pak-Iran bilateral trade and economic relations by signing a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), installation of effective banking channel, establishment of markets at border region, elimination of illegal trade, exchange of business delegation, organizing joint trade exhibition, B2B meetings. It was also agreed that a webinar between SCCI and Mashhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry will be organised after Eid.

Sherbaz Bilour invited the Iranian investors to make investment in KP potential sectors, including hydel power generation, marble, mining, furniture, honey, gems, especially the Special Economic Zone, which is being constructed under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

There is huge potential to further boost bilateral trade between Pakistan and Iran, which currently stood at $359 million, including $36 million export of Pakistani items to Iran, while Iranian import products of $323 million, Sherbaz Bilour said.

However, he called upon Islamabad and Tehran to take serious initiatives to remove hurdles in the way of bilateral trade between the two brotherly Islamic countries.

He called for declaring Chabahar port, as sister port, and asked Iran to take benefits from China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects.

Iran gave much importance to boost bilateral trade and economic relations with Pakistan, said Ghomi while speaking on the occasion. He added the efforts have been initiated to sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

The Iranian diplomat fully agreed with recommendations of SCCI chief, saying that despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the Iranian consulate has facilitated the business community and issued visas to them in a short span of time. He informed that Iranian ambassador in Pakistan will soon visit Peshawar and will hold a meeting with the business community to apprise himself of their problems.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021