He said Iran and Pakistan are brotherly Islamic countries and have been enjoying amicable business relations since a long time ago.
“I admit that the advantages like commonality of religion and traditional values, geographical connectivity and complementarities of our economies have not been materialized in true perspective,” he noted.
The businessman said the analysis of bilateral trade in last five years reveals that the trade between our two countries is growing at a very slow pace. “Current volume of bilateral trade during calendar year 2017 registered 358 million dollars,” noted.
Syed Mazhar Ali Nasir added that Pakistan’s exports to Iran accounted for 36 million dollars against the imports of 323 million dollars in the same period.
The trade activist went on to say that tariffs and non-tariff measures are major obstacles in the way of trade augmentation between our two countries.
He said all the four traditional transportation modes are available for bilateral trade between Pakistan and Iran i.e. air, sea, road and rail but unfortunately, none of these modes of transportation are efficiently and economically utilized at present.
He added the Business Community has been emphasizing that the transportation facilities must be improved for the enhancement of economic relations.
“The transportation through land routes and railways need to be improved to properly facilitate the exporters of both the sides,” Syed Mazhar Ali Nasir concluded.
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