Govt urged to hold single-country exhibition in Iran

United Business Group's (UBG) general secretary Zubair F. Tufail has urged Federal Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastgir to take appropriate measures for organising Pakistan's single-country exhibition in Iran for the expansion of trade between the two countries.

Zubair said the government should announce a long-term integrated trade policy aimed at enhancing bilateral trade between Pakistan and Iran. "We believe that a policy is required to get maximum benefits when sanctions against Iran have already been lifted," he added. He said that the single-country exhibition will help Pakistan in introducing its products in Iran's market and such a move will ultimately enhance exports.

He said that the lifting of sanctions on Iran has paved the way for the two sides to do business in an enabling atmosphere. He said that Pakistan and Iran have the potential to meet each other's needs provided the businessmen have the exposure to the opportunities.

He said that businessmen of Iran and Pakistan would have to increase their interaction with each other for sharing their experiences in the larger interest of the people of both the brotherly nations.

"It should be a matter of concern for both sides that in 2014, the volume of bilateral trade has decreased to $229 million which is a record low in this decade," he said, adding that the twoway trade between the two countries in 2009 and 2008 was as high as $1.21 billion and $1.16 billion, respectively."

He said that it was a matter of concern trade balance was in favor of Iran. For example, Pakistan exported goods to Iran to the tune of $142 million in 2012 which dipped to $43 million in 2014. In contrast to that Pakistan's imports from Iran in 2012 were $120 million which inched up to $186 million in 2014, he added.

He stressed the need for finding ways to increase the volume of Pakistan's trade with Iran.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for UBG, Gulzar Firoz, said that Iran required our textile products, leather goods, engineering items, agricultural products, etc. He was of the view that Pakistan could capture Iranian market with some efforts and fetch between $4 and $5 billion through exports in the next few years.