Pakistan sees chance in Iran bans removal

Pakistan says it is preparing to take a share of the benefits that the lifting of economic sanctions on Iran will bring about in light of the recent breakthrough in talks between Iran and the P5+1 over the Iranian nuclear energy program.

Tariq Fatemi, the special assistant on foreign affairs to Pakistan’s prime minister, has told reporters in Washington that the lifting of sanctions against Iran will open up doors of massive trade for Islamabad with Tehran.

Iran and the P5+1 – the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany – announced at the end of marathon top-level talks on July 14 that they had agreed on certain restrictions over the Iranian nuclear energy activities in return for the removal of certain economic sanctions against the country.

The removal of sanctions - which is expected to start before the end of 2015 – is expected to facilitate international trade with Iran that had over the past years become difficult due to complications created as the result of a tight regime of sanctions.   

“We are convinced that it is the right thing,” Fatemi has been quoted by the Daily Times as saying by the media.

“We are also convinced that an end to sanctions will open up new opportunities for Pakistan to enhance its commercial and economic ties to Iran.”

He has further emphasized that the prospects for the removal of sanctions against Iran have already raised hopes in Islamabad that a much-awaited pipeline project to import natural gas from Iran could eventually get off the ground.  

“This pipeline would not only benefit Pakistan in terms of providing us a valuable source of energy, we also believe that such a pipeline could also encourage cooperation among the countries of the region that would really strengthen peace and stability,” Fatemi has been quoted as saying.

“As soon as the sanctions are lifted, we will explore avenues and opportunities of strengthening our economic [and] commercial ties with Iran.”

Other reports by Pakistan’s media said that Iran will send an economic delegation to Islamabad next month to address bottlenecks in the way of trade and investment between the two countries.

The delegation will also explore mutual trade opportunities in light of the recent breakthrough in Vienna by Iran and the P5+1 group of countries over the Iranian nuclear energy program.

The Express Tribune reported that the Iranian delegation is expected in Pakistan in the first week of August. 

The daily added that meetings are scheduled to be held between the Iranian delegation and Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Khuram Dastgir, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. 

The visit follows a similar initiative by Islamabad in April when Commerce Minister Dastgir led a delegation to Tehran to discuss ways to expand bilateral trade from the current level of $1 billion to $5 billion in five years. 

Pakistan exports a wide variety of food items to Iran that include rice, meat, fruits and paper and imports chemicals, plastic products, bitumen, paraffin, iron scrap and many other chemicals and machinery related products.  

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