- April 24, 2024
- Kainat Shakeel
- 0
After the Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s three-day official visit to Pakistan, Tehran and Islamabad decided to “expeditiously finalize” a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), according to a joint statement released on Wednesday. In a joint statement, Iran and Pakistan said that “both sides agreed to hold the 22nd round of the Joint Economic Commission (JEC) negotiations as well as the upcoming annual Bilateral Political Consultations (BPC) and Joint Business Trade Committee (JBTC) sessions shortly in addition to expeditiously finalizing the FTA.”
Strong air, marine, and sea ties are essential, as Iranian Ambassador Dr. Reza Amiri Moghadam stated last month, pointing out that the FTA will boost mutual trade. Both Pakistan and Iran reviewed their entire bilateral relationship and discussed the conversations and talks that occurred during Raisi’s visit to Pakistan. The joint statement mentioned that they would enhance mutual interaction by regularly exchanging high-level visits. Additionally, they decided to arrange for the regular exchange of delegations from their chambers of commerce and technical and economic specialists to further strengthen their economic cooperation.
The announcement also stated that the remaining two border sustenance markets would be opened and that the Reemdan border point would be recognized as an international border crossing point under the TIR Convention. Both nations affirmed their commitment to transforming their shared border from a “border of peace” to a “border of prosperity” by working together on development-oriented economic projects. This includes the establishment of cooperative border markets, economic free zones, and new border openings. They also reaffirmed their goal of increasing bilateral trade to $10 billion within the next five years.
“They also reiterated the importance of cooperation in the energy domain, including trade in electricity, power transmission lines, and Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline Project,” the statement stated. “To promote economic and commercial activity, there was an agreement to operationalize barter trade mechanisms between the two sides fully,” the nations stated. The significance of the prompt restart of the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group’s activities was highlighted when Iran and Pakistan “expressed satisfaction at the close and cooperative relations between the two countries in all mechanisms” of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
In the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) context, the two sides also demanded aggressive cooperation between the regional nations. In the statement, Raisi also said she had cordially invited Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Zardari to visit Iran on official business.