Iran urged to allow kinnow exports permanently

ISLAMABAD: Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) on Monday urged the Iranian government to allow Pakistani kinnow on permanent basis to enhance bilateral trade between two countries.

“Tehran recently allowed Pakistan to export kinnow for a period of two months, but we expect a permanent permission from our brotherly country as a few years ago our exports to Iran stood at 60,000 tons,” Senior FPCCI official Ahmad Jawad, said in a statement. 

“Pakistan’s kinnow was in great demand in the light of previous year’s figures and exporters may tap some good volumes of around 10,000 tons before Iran’s national festival of Nouroze during this interim period.”  Jawad, who is the chairman of chamber’s regional standing committee on horticulture exports, urged the Iranian authorities to sit down with their Pakistani counterparts and find out a permanent solution to this longstanding problem. “Both governments must understand it will take another year, even after a permanent permission, to restart kinnow trade because of a number of issues that need to be resolved,” Jawad observed.  The FPCCI standing committee chief further said it is most likely that the central banks of Iran and Pakistan will soon sign an agreement to establish banking relations, which will increase the bilateral trade three fold.