The Iranian ambassador to Pakistan has said a Free Trade Agreement with Pakistan is likely to be finalised during the planned visit of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to Islamabad, according to a media report on Friday.

Iranian Ambassador Dr Reza Amiri Moghadam, while addressing a business community during his visit to the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) on Thursday, said the FTA would increase mutual trade and several bilateral economic and trade agreements would also be signed during the visit, the Dawn newspaper reported.

However, the Iranian envoy did not provide any details such as the timing of the upcoming visit of his country’s president.

He also said that the two countries need to have strong air, maritime and sea links, which will strengthen the economic relations and Pakistan will also be connected to regional and global trade.

The envoy emphasised the closeness of maritime links, especially Karachi and Gwadar and Chabahar and Bandar Abbas ports and said that Gwadar and Chabahar should be declared as sister ports.

He said the current bilateral trade volume was just USD 2.5 billion, which increased by 11 per cent in the last 11 months.

“After the FTA and bilateral agreements for the promotion of mutual trade, there is a strong possibility that the mutual trade between Pakistan and Iran would reach USD 5 billion in the next few years,” he added.

He said Pakistan and Iran can fulfil 70 per cent of each other’s needs by engaging in mutual trade, just as Iran imports halal meat, Pakistan can do a lot of work in Iran in this sector.

The envoy added that the Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline was a significant project, which would benefit both the domestic and industrial sectors of Pakistan. “Iran is serious about resolving Pakistan’s energy problems and that is why Tehran completed the gas pipeline project for USD 1 billion in 2009 so that Pakistan could meet its energy needs,” he said, adding that it was essential that the project be completed at the earliest. He added that Iran was already trading in the gas and the energy sector with Turkiye, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, therefore Pakistan can also follow the procedure adopted by these countries.

He acknowledged that the banking channel between Pakistan and Iran was a serious issue, but Iran has banking links with Turkiye, Bahrain and Iraq, reported the paper.