21 June 2017
Islamabad - Pakistani minister of commerce said that preparations for signing Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Iran are underway.

In an interview with IRNA, Khurram Dastgir Khan said that under the first major step towards FTA, central banks of Iran and Pakistan have signed an agreement few months ago and all the required notifications have been done.

“At the moment, we are in contact and negotiations are underway with Pakistani banks to immediately open letters of credit (LCs) for trade with Iran,' he said.

He added that there is a great positivity from both sides on that front. 

“I am delighted to note that recently government of Iran has reported that our bilateral trade has exceeded one billion dollars. That is excellent news for both countries and I see that this trade will grow even further in future,' said the minster.

Iran and Pakistan had earlier agreed to increase their bilateral trade up to $5 billion during next five years. 

Responding to a question on Pakistan-Qatar trade ties, Khurram Dastgir Khan added that Pakistan’s trade continues with all of PGCC partners. 

© IRNA 2017