BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 24. Iran and Pakistan have set a goal to increase their agricultural trade turnover to $3 billion per year over the next two years, said Iran’s Minister of Agriculture Gholamreza Nouri, Trend reports.
As he spoke to the local media after a meeting in Tehran with Pakistan’s Minister of Food Security and National Research Rana Tanvir Hussein, the minister noted that, currently, agricultural trade between the two countries amounts to about $1.4 billion.
"At present, Iran’s agricultural exports to Pakistan are roughly $700 million per year. The new target is to raise Iran’s exports of agricultural products to Pakistan to $1.5 billion annually," he said.
Nouri added that cooperation has been established between the two countries in areas such as food security, agricultural research, climate change, and combating water scarcity. Considering the geographic positions of Iran and Pakistan, the plan is for the two countries to collaborate as a regional hub for food security.
The Iranian minister also noted that Pakistan has expressed readiness to supply a large part of Iran’s corn needs, which Iran welcomes positively. In the rice sector, Pakistan is interested in expanding trade, and Iran is also keen to direct rice supplies toward Pakistan, taking into account the economic and friendly relations between the two countries.