ISLAMABAD, August 17: Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has expressed the determination of Pakistan to strengthen its ties with Iran in all areas, including enhancing bilateral trade.
In an exclusive interview with an Iranian news agency IRNA on the eve of Joint Economic Commission (JEC) Wednesday, the Pakistani Finance Minister welcomed cooperation between the two countries in energy and trade sectors.
Miftah Ismail said the government of Pakistan under Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif is ready to enhance ties with Iran in all sectors especially the bilateral trade. He added that Pakistan had proposed during the previous government term to elevate the bilateral trade volume to 500 million dollars or Euros by trading in local currencies.
“I have asked the governor of Pakistani State Bank to talk with his Iranian counterpart as early as possible to materialize the proposal,” said the Pakistani finance minister. He said: I think there should be more travel routes between Iran and Pakistan to facilitate trade.
In Balochistan, there must be more facilities for passengers and enhanced people-to-people exchange would definitely facilitate more trade between Iran and Pakistan.
Pakistan is in dire need of gas and energy that can be easily fulfilled by Iran, Finance Minister Ismail said, adding that one major step the Pakistani government has taken is that we have increased import of electricity from Iran.
“Our minister Khurram Dastegir travelled to Iran to enhance electricity imports from Iran which is a positive development,” said the minister.
He said the gas pipeline project is quite tricky as it came under sanctions soon after it was signed. Though the sanctions were lifted after a nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 in 2015, but the US unilaterally walked away from the agreement and again imposed sanctions on Iran. “Our petroleum minister Dr Musadik Malik is trying to import gas and the Iranian option in this regards is still on the table,” he stated. DNA
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