Pakistan and Iran Thursday chalked out a five-year plan to enhance bilateral trade to $5 billion.
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, addressing a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian, said the trade cooperation plan aimed at removing impediments in bilateral trade, finalizing the Free Trade Agreement, and establishing institutional linkages between the private sectors of the two countries.
🔴Live: Joint Press Stakeout by Foreign Minister of Pakistan and Foreign Minister of Iran https://t.co/ALQEOgRUNn
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Pakistan (@ForeignOfficePk) August 3, 2023
The five-year plan will run from 2023 to 2028, the foreign minister told the media after the two leaders held a meeting as well as delegation-level talks. He said during their meeting, they had agreed to prioritize the operationalization of the five remaining border markets by the end of 2024.
In his remarks, the Iranian foreign minister emphasized the enhanced bilateral cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, and tourism. He said both countries were committed to increasing the bilateral trade to $5 billion and agreed to set up a special economic free trade region along the common border points.
Emphasizing the completion of the Pak-Iran gas pipeline, Abdollahian said the project would serve the national interests of both countries.
Meeting with the prime minister
The Iranian foreign minister also called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif today. Underscoring the close brotherly relations between the two countries, the premier reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to further strengthen these ties, with a particular focus on enhancing cooperation in the economic domain.
Recalling the joint inauguration, with President Ebrahim Raisi, of the Mand-Pishin border marketplace, the prime minister stressed that initiatives aimed at economic uplift of the border areas were a tangible manifestation of the shared priority to collectively work for the betterment of our two peoples.
