“Transportation is one of the most important areas of cooperation between the two countries, both bilateral and transport aspects, and can play a crucial role in expanding economic exchanges,” he said in an interview with correspondent Mehr.
“The Tehran-Islamabad-Instanbul railway corridor is one of the oldest links between Iran and Pakistan, and has been in use for many years, but now it needs to be reactivated,” he said, “Iran, Pakistan and Turkey have agreed to establish regular traffic between him.
He pointed out that “updating the joint railway line between Iran and Pakistan is extremely important. The railway connection from Zahedan to Mirjabe is almost a century ago, and research conducted on this point shows that this route should be reconstructed and updated to new standards.”
“Although the current volume of rail transport is limited, last week it was agreed to restore Iran-Pakistan’s transport trains,” Tarfa’a emphasized.
At a recent meeting of the joint committee of both countries, the issue of reinvigorating the high capacity and efficient transport capacity from Pakistan to Turkey has been raised and agreed by the parties,” he said, “currently, the majority of trade between Iran and Pakistan is through road transport.”
“The two countries therefore agreed to increase the capacity of existing border terminals and expand the border terminals of Mirjabe and Rimdan,” the Deputy Road Minister added.
“It has also been decided to equip and enhance the previous boundary terminals at high speeds and capacity to expand land traffic.
“According to the signing of the 22nd Economic Cooperation Agreement, Iran and Pakistan have set a target of achieving a trade volume of $10 billion each year, which will require around 1,800 to 2,000 trucks each day. To achieve this goal, a fundamental change in the infrastructure of the border terminals is required.”
Elsewhere in his remarks, he pointed to the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Iran and Pakistan, highlighting that the majority of the agreement has been finalized. “Both parties agreed to review and finalize the annex related to the goods that will be exempt from customs duties as soon as possible.”
“These annexs will be finalised prior to the 23rd meeting of the Joint Economic Committee of Iran-Pakistan before paving the way for the establishment of a free trade regime between the two countries,” he added.
MNA