The government has finally given legal cover to the barter trade with Iranand Afghanistan, according to two notifications issued by the Ministry ofCommerce.
Ministry of Commerce has issued SRO.484(I)/2022 and SRO.485(I)/2022 toamend the Export Policy Order (EPO) 2020 and Import Policy Order (IPO) 2020to formally start barter trade with Iran and Afghanistan.
Through these notifications, Pakistan has cleared a legal mechanism toprovide for barter trade with Iran and Afghanistan. According to thesenotifications, imports and exports shall be allowed under the barter tradearrangement as approved by the Commerce Ministry.
In a past meeting, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinettook up a commerce ministry’s summary for ‘grant of regulatory support forestablishing barter trade arrangements with Afghanistan and Iran’ and,after discussions, “allowed [the] regulatory cover to barter tradearrangements by amending relevant provisions of Export Policy Order (EPO)2020 and Import Policy Order (IPO) 2020”.
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According to the Commerce Ministry, in 2019 a high-powered committee underthe chairmanship of the Minister of State for Revenue was constituted tolook into the impediments in the way of Pak-Iran bilateral trade. Duringthe 8th JTC, held on July 4-5, 2019, the Iranian side shared a draft bartertrade mechanism for consideration and finalization by Pakistan. In light ofdetailed deliberations involving relevant public and private sectorstakeholders, the State Bank of Pakistan submitted a proposal forestablishing a barter trade mechanism between Pakistan and Iran as the bestviable option.
Subsequently, this Ministry arranged multiple meetings with stakeholderswherein it was decided that Quetta Chamber of Commerce & Industry (QCCI)from the Pakistan side and Zahidan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ZCCI)from the Iran side would sign an MoU to establish a barter trade mechanism.
