Tehran, Iran, April 22
Trend:
The Head of Iran-Pakistan Chamber of Commerce suggested using Pakistan as a hub zone for Iran.
"One of the Iran-Pakistan trade barriers is that Pakistan does not have capacity to pay the debt of Iranian businessmen’s goods in dollars of euros, and they are more likely to use national currency,” the Head of Iran-Pakistan Chamber of Commerce Mahmoud Tohi-Dast said, Trend reports citing ILNA.
“Through bartering system, part of this problem will be resolved,” he added. "Unfortunately, due to some border problems, our government disregards this area, whereas many Pakistani businessmen can handle many of our product needs during the sanctions imposed on Iran," said Tohi-Dast.
"The government’s directive on returning the export earned currencies have doubled our problems,” he said. “If the government, as in the case of Iraq, concludes a mutually agreements with Pakistan and Afghanistan, some of our problems will be resolved.”
“Indeed, internal directives have had a great impact on our bilateral exchanges with Pakistan than the sanctions,” he added. He went on to say that the US sanctions against Iran had no impact on bilateral relations with Pakistan.
"The sanctions have not affected our bilateral trades; moreover, our exchanges have increased. Pakistan can act as a hub for us, that is, Pakistani businessmen can import goods such as meat and onions from elsewhere, so that we can import those items to Iran through this country and meet our demands during the sanctions,” said Tohi-Dast.
"Now, our exports value amounts to one billion dollars, while it has capacity to increase by $20 to $30 billion,” the official said. “Most of our exports to Pakistan include oil derivatives, mineral water, plastics and cement, while Iran imports rice, fruit and cotton from Pakistan.”