President of Pakistan’s Lahore Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (LCCI) said that restriction on illegal trade would give
considerable boost to trade relations between Iran and
Pakistan.
Talking to an Iranian delegation led by Mohsen Heidarian at the
Lahore Chamber, Abdul Basit said illegal trade should be treated
with an iron hand damaging local industries and causing huge loss
to tax revenues of the two countries.
He said that there was great scope for Iranian companies to
consider Pakistan for either exporting petroleum products or
setting up oil refineries in collaboration with their Pakistani
counterparts.
The LCCI president said the China Pakistan Economic Corridor
(CPEC) project was well underway and it was expected that the
demand of petroleum products would certainly rise in view the
projected increase.
He said that Iran had already shown interest to get actively
involved in the CPEC projects so any Iranian company would be
facilitated on priority by concerned government departments.
Pakistan and Iran are the two brotherly countries, therefore,
maximum efforts need to strengthen relations in all fields, he
said, adding that both sides would conduct market research to
further strengthen trade relations.
Priority should be given to each other for import of goods
rather than buy from distant countries and collaboration in mega
projects like onshore and offshore oil & gas exploration
activities, hydel and coal based energy projects, paper &
board, sugar, cement, chemicals, transport & communication,
construction of roads in Pakistan, scientific & educational
cooperation, handicrafts, artificial jewellery, carpets, fancy
furniture etc.
Members of the Iranian delegation spoke about the prospects of
trade and investment opportunities between the two countries and
particularly highlighted oil sector of Iran.