TEHRAN: Minister for Finance Miftah Ismail said that Pakistan is in dire need of gas and energy that can be easily fulfilled by Iran. In an exclusive interview with an Iranian news agency on eve of Joint Economic Commission (JEC) meeting here, he said that China is biggest world market and needs energy and Iran which is one of world’s biggest exporters of energy can fulfill China’s energy needs through Pakistan.

“We think that Iran should become part of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. We welcome Iranian investment in Gwadar on any other energy projects under CPEC,” he said. “All countries do trade with neighbours and there is nothing new about that,” he said and added Pakistan will take every measure to remove any hurdle in trade with Iran. He said that Pakistan had opened border markets and that major part of its Balochistan state’s trade is with Iran and Afghanistan. He said that there is a lot of unofficial trading going on between Iran and Pakistan, adding that Iranian products could be seen in Pakistani shops, especially in Karachi and there is no harm if this trade can be formalised, as countries normally do first trade with neighbours. “I look forward to day when there is more trade between Iran and Pakistan,” he said. “Iran produces lots of things which Pakistan buys or could buy and vice-versa,” noted Pakistani official, adding, “One major agenda of upcoming meeting of Joint Economic Commission would be to enhance bilateral trade between two friendly countries.” “We cannot open LCs in US dollar in trade with Iran and this is a major difficulty.”

“Now there is a mechanism that central banks’ governors have figured out and in JEC meeting this mechanism would be formalised to ease trade,” he said.

Published in The Daily National Courier, August, 18 2022

Like Business on Facebook, follow @DailyNCourier on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.