ISLAMABAD: Pakistan officially notified a ‘Business-to-Business Barter Trade Mechanism’ for trade in goods with Russia, Iran, and Afghanistan, the commerce ministry announced on Friday, allowing state-run enterprises and private sector companies to engage both in the import and export of commodities.
Exporters and importers on the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR)’s active taxpayers list and hooked to the Pakistan Single Window System would be eligible for barter trade.
The ministry said that applications for authorization of import and export of commodities under the B2B barter trade system should be submitted online by the trader or an authorized agent through the online system to the regulatory collector.
The trade of commodities under a B2B barter trade arrangement would be allowed on the “import followed by export” principle, and export would meet the imported goods’ value.
Pakistan has identified 26 commodities that can be exported to Russia, Afghanistan, and Iran, including cream, eggs, milk, cereal, meat and fish products, rice, salt, pharmaceutical products, fruits and vegetables, footwear, steel, finished leather and leather apparel, and sports goods.
The government has notified the goods to be imported from Afghanistan, which include nuts and fruits, spices, minerals and metals, raw rubber items, raw hides and skins, vegetables and pulses, cotton, iron, coal and its products, and steel.
Pakistan’s barter trade with Iran
From Iran, Pakistani importers can import nuts, vegetables, spices, fruits, minerals and metals, petroleum crude oil, chemical products, raw hides and skins, raw wool, fertilizers, article of plastics and rubber, LNG and LPG, coal and related products, and articles of iron and steel.
From Russia, Pakistani importers will be allowed to import wheat, coal and related products, fertilizers, tanning and dying extracts, pulses, petroleum oils including crude, LNG and LPG, minerals and metals, chemicals products, articles of iron and steel, items of textile industrial machinery, articles of plastic and rubber.
