July 15, The Iran Project �Iran and Pakistan are seeking to achieve an agreement on free trade to increase business exchanges, says an Iranian official.

Speaking to a reporter on Saturday, deputy head of Developing Export Markets of Trade Promotion Organization of Iran (TPO) Mirhadi Seyedi said following Iran-Pakistan leaders' emphasis on increasing trade turnover to $ 5 billion, the two countries, having great potentials in the fields of business and economic cooperation, decided to sign a free trade agreement.

Seyedi referred to the second round of Iran-Pakistan trade committee held last week, saying the two sides discussed the ways to remove the obstacles to the expansion of trade cooperation.

Given Tehran and Islamabad's emphasis on expanding bilateral trade cooperation and their high potentials, the two countries are optimistic over developing their ties in the near future, he noted.

The Iranian official went on to say that Islamabad also pays special attention to the development of bilateral trade relations and is taking good steps forward to sign the free trade agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Attending the 20th session of the Iran-Pakistan Joint Economic Commission which kicked off in Tehran in April, Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said the volume of transactions between the two countries has the capacity to increase up to 5 billion dollars in various economic, trade, tourism and energy fields.