QUETTA: Mohammad Mudassir Tepu, Pakistan’s ambassador to Iran, asserted that the government would address every problem facing the business community in fostering trade with Iran in order to increase the amount of trade that occurs between the two nations.
Speaking via a video link at Trade House to the business community and Quetta Chamber of Commerce and Industry (QCCI) members, the ambassador declared that the government was committed to advancing trade with Iran and that, in doing so, it would remove all obstacles to such trade. He called on the business community to contribute to the country’s economic growth by boosting commerce in goods between Iran and Pakistan.
He announced that the Pakistani Consul General would be visiting Zahidan shortly to meet with representatives of Baloch exporters, importers, and transporters to talk about the challenges they encounter in doing business with Iran.
Shehryar Mandokhail and Mohammad Sadiq, Pakistan’s envoys in Zahidan and Mashhad, were also present during the meeting.
Haji Abdullah Achakzai, the president of the QCCI, along with senior vice president Haji Agha Gul Khilji, vice president Syed Abdul Ahad Agha, and senior members Haji Mohammad Yaqoob Mariani, Haji Faujan Bareech, Fida Hussain Dashti, and others, brought up the difficulties and issues that Pakistan’s ambassador was aware of regarding the trade between Pakistan and Iran.
Baloch business leaders have encouraged the Pakistani ambassador to take up matters including resolving visa concerns between the two countries, providing facilities for loading and unloading goods in Taftan and Mirjaveh, and maintaining uniformity in the prices of commodities at border markets.
They recommended that the ambassador of Pakistan speak with Pakistani businesspeople who are trading with Iran on a regular basis.
Consul General Sadiq was instructed to travel to Balochistan as soon as possible after the conference in order to evaluate the situation and learn more about the challenges faced by businessmen engaged in trade between Pakistan and Iran.
Pakistan had earlier in January, in response to Iranian strikes in the Panjgur region of Balochistan, recalled its 34-member delegation from Chahbahar.
The group’s member, Fida Hussain Dashti, a former president of the Quetta Chamber of Commerce and Industry, later revealed that although the delegation had arrived in Chahbahar prior to the Iranian strike in Panjgur, Iranian officials had not welcomed them. Abdullah Achakzai, the president of the QCCI, was among the five members who were denied entry into Iran by the Iranian border police, he claimed.
The MoUs that were supposed to be signed at the meeting, according to Mr. Dashti, could not be signed following the strikes since the Pakistani delegation promptly left in protest.
