During a Sunday meeting with Pakistan’s Ambassador to Tehran, Imran Ahmed Siddiqui, Iran Chamber of Commerce President Samad Hassanzadeh said connecting the two countries’ economic capacities for the benefit of bilateral trade remained a key priority for the chamber. He said embassies play a central role in facilitating cooperation between the private sector and government agencies, removing obstacles and helping create the conditions needed to expand trade and investment. Hassanzadeh said cooperation between the Iran Chamber and the Pakistani embassy in Tehran could help strengthen relations in energy, petrochemicals, food industries, transit and other sectors, adding that such efforts should be actively pursued. He also highlighted obstacles slowing bilateral commerce, including the lack of efficient financial mechanisms, standards and quarantine issues, and prolonged delays affecting containers at Pakistan’s Karachi port. He said lengthy customs clearance times, combined with rail and road transport constraints, had imposed financial losses on Iranian businesses. Hassanzadeh proposed establishing a cross-border “green corridor” supported by electronic document transfers to facilitate trade. The Pakistani ambassador, for his part, said both sides were committed to removing obstacles and implementing previously agreed measures. He said extending border operations to 24 hours a day, seven days a week could provide greater opportunities for private-sector cooperation. Siddiqui also called for closer coordination between the Iran Chamber and the embassy’s economic section, adding that resolving issues such as banking links and transit required time and measures beyond the authority of embassies or even governments. He said Pakistan had proposed a barter mechanism and was awaiting Iran’s response on its implementation.