Pakistan, Iran move to ink free trade deal
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Iran and Pakistan plan to raise their annual trade to $5 billion in the next five years
Pakistani officials say Iran has agreed with the initial draft of a bilateral free trade agreement, paving the way for the start of formal negotiations to finalize the agreement.
The two countries signed a “strategic action plan” to raise their trade to $5 billion in the next five years when President Hassan Rouhani visited Islamabad in March.
“We have recently got back the initial draft that we shared earlier with the Iranian authorities; they have given their input and agreed to push ahead with the plan,” Pakistani media quoted a senior official at the country’s Ministry of Commerce as saying on Monday.
According to the unnamed official, a Pakistani delegation will visit Iran “most probably by next month” to start formal talks on the free trade agreement.
A preferential trade agreement has been in force between the two neighbors since September 2006 but financial transactions have not surpassed $1.3 billion which they recorded in 2012 when US-led sanctions on Iran brought them down to $432 million.
The changed scenario after the removal of the sanctions has prompted Iran and Pakistan to give a fresh impetus to their trade ties.
Last month, they agreed to open special bank accounts in their local currencies to streamline the payment system.
EA
