By Hamid Mahmood ISLAMABAD, Nov 12 (INP-WealthPK): Pakistan and Iran have agreed to expand their trade volume to $5 billion in the next five years. In this regard, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood and business executive met with the Iranian Minister for Industry, Mining and Trade Syed Reza Fatemi Amin and officials concerned in Tehran before the start of the 9th Joint Trade Committee meeting (JTC). According to a news statement, Razak said it was critical to broadening bilateral trade and investment partnerships. The two countries have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on exhibition collaboration and agreed to start initial discussions on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and other critical trade issues to boost bilateral trade volume and investment potential. Both nations have explored barter trade, transportation cooperation, free commerce agreement, border market building, and other concerns influencing bilateral trade. Pakistan and Iran are linguistically, historically, and culturally connected and both nations have recently made substantial attempts to remove long-standing irritants to strengthen the bilateral ties. Both sides are devoted to pursuing areas of mutual economic interest, such as trade and other related projects. Iran, with its abundant natural resources of oil and gas, is critical for an energy-deficient country like Pakistan. The graph below depicts the amount of bilateral trade. In 2008, the entire amount of commerce grew, giving Pakistan the hope that it may reach a new high in future. This trend continued for a few more years, but the total trade volume fell by 57 per cent in 2011 due to sanctions on Iran. In 2011, the overall volume of Pakistan's exports to Iran fell by 16 per cent, while the total volume of imports plunged by 66 per cent. Until 2014, the graph indicated a downward trend in trade. Although the trade turnover improved slightly in 2019, it fell again in 2020 as a result of COVID-19. Pakistan aims to reach a new high point in future.   Source: UN Comtrade Database; https://comtrade.un.org Iran has on different occasions expressed its desire to join the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project and Pakistan and China have also welcomed it. In a sideline discussion with the then Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif during the 71st UN General Assembly Session in September 2016, the then Iranian President Dr Hassan Rouhani had publicly announced his intention to join CPEC. Former Iranian ambassador Honardoost also reaffirmed this objective in his Oxbridge Lecture in Islamabad in 2017. He had stressed that Iran, with its abundant energy resources and technological capabilities, will be able to make a big contribution to CPEC. China and Iran signed a milestone 25-year Strategic Cooperation Agreement in March 2021, reaffirming their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which began in 2016. Pakistan stands to benefit from this partnership agreement. The completion of CPEC will help draw the two nations closer to each other Furthermore, incorporating Iran in CPEC will strengthen security and economic connections. Pakistan's long-term ties with Iran face some problems at the moment. However, both nations recognise their mutual importance in the area and are working to mend their fences to fully realise their economic potential. Negotiations and agreements, whether completed or in the process, show that both parties are committed to moving forward.