Pishin Border Market to open in Oct

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Commerce Syed Naveed Qamar Thursday said the Pakistan-Iran Pishin Border Market was expected to open in the coming month, which will increase free trade between the two countries.

The market has been completed and its inauguration is on the cards, while work on other three markets including Gabd, Rimdan, and Kohak would start soon, Naveed said in a meeting with an Iranian parliamentary delegation at the ministry. The delegation was led by Malek Fazeli and included Majid Naseri Nejad and Dr Mohsen Fathi.

The minister said a total of 12 border markets had been proposed by both sides to increase the volume of trade, out of which nine had been mutually approved. He said there will be trade through these border markets under the barter system.

The minister said there was a dire need to increase the trade volume in petroleum and gas. “We are importing Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) from Iran and its import also needs to be increased. There is also a need to increase its production in Pakistan,” he added.

“We import electricity from Iran for Gwadar and this also needs to be increased,” he said. When the delegation proposed an increase in mutual cooperation and trade in the pharmaceutical sector, the minister said Pakistan was also doing imports in the pharmaceutical sector and exports were also going on. He also suggested that people from the pharmaceutical sector should be included in the next trade delegation.

On this occasion, Malek Fazeli, head of the Iranian parliamentary delegation, said Pakistan and Iran were neighbouring countries with a common border of 920 kilometers from which mutual trade was also carried out and the movement of people continued throughout the year. He wished that there should be an increase in mutual trade volume adding that Iran cooperated with Pakistan for overcoming the shortage of onions and tomatoes.

He said as a member of the Iranian Parliament, he considered cooperation between Pakistan and Iran in the field of energy essential. He said work on Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline should also be completed in near future. He said Pakistan was in a difficult situation due to floods and natural disasters, especially in Sindh and Balochistan. In this regard, the Government of Iran will fully cooperate with Pakistan for rehabilitation of flood victims.