Iran-Pakistan Transport Deal to Ease China-Europe Cargo Transit

Pakistan and Iran have reached an agreement to facilitate the transit of cargo trucks from China to Europe, which move will support the economies of the two countries.
The development was announced by Iran’s Minister of Roads and Urban Development Rostam Qasemi while addressing a conference on asphalt and related machinery on Tuesday.
While referring to his recent meetings with Pakistani officials, he said that the two countries had agreed to facilitate the traffic of Iranian trucks directly to China and trucks from Pakistan to Europe, Pakistan Observer reported.
Earlier this week, a delegation led by Pakistani Adviser to PM on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood visited Iran.
During the visit, Pakistan and Iran decided to increase bilateral trade to $5 billion in the next five years.
The advisor said it was important to make trade and investment relations more broad-based, said a press release on Sunday.
Dawood also met with Iran’s Minister for Industries, Mining and Trade Seyyed Reza Fatemi-Amin in Tehran before the meeting of the Ninth Joint Trade Committee.
Fatemi-Amin and Dawood co-chaired the meeting to discuss all trade issues and progress made after the eighth meeting held in 2019 in Islamabad.
They discussed matters related to trade and investment between the two countries and resolved to translate the decisions of the Ninth JTC into positive and tangible outcomes. The Iranian mnister invited Pakistani companies to invest in Iran.
Last Friday, the advisor left for Iran on a two-day visit to negotiate bilateral trade and investment ties with the Iranian government.
Pakistan and Iran have agreed to start initial talks on the Free Trade Agreement and other important issues of trade for increasing trade volume and investment opportunities.
Both the neighboring countries have discussed barter trade, cooperation in transportation, free trade agreement, construction of border markets and other issues affecting bilateral trade.
The Ninth JTC meeting between Iran and Pakistan was held on Nov. 6-7 2021 at Tehran.
A memorandum of understanding on exhibition cooperation has also been signed between the two countries.
Officials from the Ministry of Commerce, Pakistan’s Customs Administration, government of Balochistan and the presidents of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and Quetta Chamber of Commerce were present at the signing ceremony.