Iranian Consul General, Lahore Chamber Of Commerce And Industry Discuss Bilateral Trade, Economic Ties

Iranian Consul General Mohammad Reza Nazeri on Monday discussed trade and economic relations between Pakistan and Iran with office-bearers of Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Oct, 2019 ) :Iranian Consul General Mohammad Reza Nazeri on Monday discussed trade and economic relations between Pakistan and Iran with office-bearers of Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).

LCCI President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh, Senior Vice President Ali Hussam Asghar, Vice President Mian Zahid Jawaid Ahmad, Iranian Commercial Counsellor Ali Asghar, former Pakistani Ambassador to Iran Asif Durrani, former LCCI Presidents Bashir A. Baksh, Farooq Iftikhar, former Senior Vice Presidents Amjad Ali Jawa, Khawaja Khawar Rasheed and Executive Committee Members also spoke on the occasion.

Iranian Consul General said that despite all odds, the bilateral trade between the two countries was good and hoped that mutual trade and economic relations would get stronger in future. He also invited the LCCI members to participate in two separate exhibitions of hot & cool equipment and medical equipment being held after 10 days and 40 days respectively.

Mohammad Reza Nazeri said, "Pakistan and Iran have common borders and cultural bonds. Iran has always tried to strengthen the bilateral relations with its neighbouring countries and its first priority is Pakistan." He assured that Iranian Consulate would extend full support to the trade delegations from Pakistan.

On this occasion, LCCI President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh said that an Export Desk was being established in the Lahore Chamber. Pakistan and Iran have large domestic markets and unique geo-strategic competitive advantage, therefore both countries would have to make joint efforts to benefit from each others strong areas, as the latest trade figures did not reflect the actual potential of trade exists between two countries, he maintained.

"According to ITC Trade map, the bilateral trade showed upward trend during the last two years. For example, in 2017, the volume of two-way trade was US $354 million which went up to US $397 million in 2018," he cited. In 2016, Pakistan exported to the tune of US $36 million to Iran that contracted to US $27 million in following years and last year ended up at US $23 million.

He said, there were some bottlenecks in the way of increasing trade between two countries which were required to be addressed on priority basis. "By reducing smuggling and undocumented trade, we can quickly enhance the figures of bilateral trade," he added.

LCCI Executive Committee members Haji Asif Saher, Shafique Butt, Fiaz Haider, Wasif Yousaf, Zeeshan Sohail Malik, Aqib Asif, Haris Ateeque and Mohammad Khalid were also present.