By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Iran and Pakistan have agreed to “expeditiously finalise” a free trade agreement (FTA) aimed at boosting economic cooperation between the two nations, despite a warning from the United States about the risks of doing business with Tehran.
In a joint statement issued at the end of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s three-day official visit to Pakistan on Wednesday, the two neighboring countries said they would hold further talks on the FTA and other economic cooperation agreements in the near future.
“The two neighboring countries agreed to expeditiously finalise the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and hold the next sessions of Annual Bilateral Political Consultations (BPC) and Joint Business Trade Committee (JBTC) as well as the 22nd round of the negotiations of the Joint Economic Commission (JEC) in the near future,” the statement said.
“They also reiterated the importance of cooperation in the energy domain, including trade in electricity, power transmission lines and Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline Project,” the statement said, recalling their aim to increase bilateral trade volume to $10 billion over the next five years.
“There was consensus to fully operationalise barter trade mechanisms between the two sides to facilitate economic and commercial activity,” the countries said.
The United States, however, warned on Wednesday that countries doing business with Iran faced the “potential risk of sanctions.”
Asked about his engagements in Pakistan and signing of memoranda of understanding (MoUs), US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel cautioned against possible sanctions.
“Just let me say broadly, we advise anyone considering business deals with Iran to be aware of the potential risk of sanctions,” he said.
The US also announced sanctions against three Chinese and one Belarus-based entity supplying missile components to Pakistan last week.
“The sanctions were made because these were entities that were proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and the means of their delivery,” Patel said.
“We’re going to continue to disrupt and take actions against proliferation networks and concerning weapons of mass destruction procurement activities wherever they may occur,” he added.
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