Irani traders visit PBIT

A 24 member delegation of Tehran chambers of commerce industries, mines & agriculture, led by Yahya Al Eshagh visited Punjab Board of Investment& Trade (PBIT). The Iranian delegates represent varied sectors including agriculture, food, light engineering textile manufacturing, energy, automobiles, leather, petrochemicals and general traders. Representatives from export promotion bank of Iran and United Bank of Iran and Iranian Consul General Hussain Bani Asadi, were also present in the meeting.

The delegation was received by Vice Chairman PBIT, Miftah Ismail, and briefed about the areas of potential collaboration which included agriculture, livestock and mining and energy. The most promising avenues of collaboration funneled down to energy production through coal based power plants as well as solar radiation and livestock processing. Additional meetings with concerned departments for the delegates have been set up as well to take further negotiations between Tehran and Punjab for materializing investments in Energy and Livestock.

This is the first time such a large delegation from Tehran has visited Lahore. The provinces of Tehran and Punjab bear quite a few similarities to each other in terms of being the industrial centers and economic capitals of their country, as well as containing the country’s major workforce. Standing 56th by the size of its GDP globally, Tehran is the country’s economic capital contributing, on average, more than 20% to Iran’s GDP. About 30% of Iran’s workforce resides in Tehran, and 45% of Iran’s large industrial firms are located in Tehran. Likewise, Punjab’s contribution to National GDP is over 55% and being the most populated province in the country, with an estimated population of 98 million, (55 % of national population), it is the major provider of workforce in the country. Punjab has more than 58,000 industrial units producing diverse products producing textiles, sports goods, heavy machinery, light engineering goods, electrical appliances, pharmaceuticals, cutlery, surgical instruments, cement, automotive parts, sugar, cement etc.