TEHRAN (Iran News) – Pakistan Vows to Resolve Trucks’ Problems at Border Crossings. Syed Muhammad Tariq Huda, Head of the Customs Administration of Pakistan, in meeting with Head of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mine and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Gholam-Hossein Shafei vowed to probe the reasons behind stopping Iranian and Pakistani trucks at Pakistan border crossings.
In the meeting, Shafei criticized the current condition regarding the passage of trucks from the Iran-Pakistan borders and called for resolving this problem which affects the trade between the two states. He said that Pakistan has a different position for Iranian people among Iran’s 15 neighboring states and said there are commonalities and special closeness between the nations of Iran and Pakistan, adding that the two countries enjoy having broad political relations but their economic relation has not been ever in the level of their political relation.
He expressed hope for finding a proper answer for the low trade and investment between the two countries, and emphasized that undoubtedly there is a problem between the two countries whose unofficial trade is more than their official trade.
Shafei went on to say that undoubtedly there are unique capacities for developing and strengthening the joint cooperation between the two states but so far both countries have failed to materialize the free trade agreement.
He then pointed to the serious defects in the infrastructures of the border customs and called for resolving them for improving the bilateral trade. He referred to transportation as the main problem both rail and road transportation. He added that for some time the traffic of trucks from both sides have seen confusion and it should be removed.
Shafei also called reconsideration about the custom tariffs at the border crossings and said the tariffs should be based on the economic realities of the two states. He noted some Iranian goods can be barter traded with Pakistani products although tariffs is very effective on this issue. He went on to say that Iran can give LPG to Pakistan and in return it imports rice or it gives apple and imports tangerine in return.
He also announced readiness of the ICCIMA for hosting its Pakistani counterpart and the chamber is planning to dispatch a trade delegation to Pakistan because such meeting can resolve major parts of the problems.
Then Tariq Huda, for his part, said despite good political relations and close cultural relation between the nations of Iran and Pakistan, the new generation of Pakistan does not know Persian and this tradition of educating Persian language has been stopped and it should be revived.
He expressed hope soon the free trade agreement between the two states would come into effect, adding that the trend of talks should become short due to the current condition in the world. He said that according to agreements, talks are underway for launching direct flights between some cities of the two countries and a special committee is to be formed to pursue the rail issue.
He termed uncomfortable the delay and stoppage of the trucks behind the borders of the two countries and vowed that after his return to Islamabad this issue would be resolved by Friday.
He said that despite the sisterhood of Chabahar and Gwadar Ports nothing serious has happened and the passages should be opened and let the trend of the agreements progress.
