Speaking at the Iran-Pakistan Business Forum hosted by the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Atabak thanked Pakistan for its “brotherly support” during the US-Israeli-imposed war against Iran. He said the war has disrupted Iranian imports and exports through the country’s southern ports, forcing Tehran to rely more heavily on its eastern border crossings with Pakistan. Atabak said the main concern was that these alternative trade routes could be neglected once conditions at the southern ports normalized. He said Iran should continue investing in eastern transport and border infrastructure to ensure the crossings reached their full economic potential. He said expanding investment should become a priority for both countries, allowing border regions to develop into long-term commercial and logistics hubs rather than temporary alternatives during periods of disruption. Atif Ikram Sheikh, president of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, for his part, said Pakistan’s government and private sector believed the country offered significant investment opportunities for Iranian companies. He cited Pakistan’s young workforce, transport links and infrastructure as areas suited to joint investment, adding that Iran’s industrial expertise and technical capabilities made it a suitable partner for meeting Pakistan’s development needs. Sheikh called on the governments of both countries to create the conditions needed for private businesses to invest and turn available resources into productive economic assets.

The Iranian mission, led by Hossein Pirmoazzen, Vice President of the Iran Chamber of Commerce and head of the Iran-Azerbaijan Joint Chamber of Commerce, met with Mammad Musayev, President of the National Confederation of Entrepreneurs Organizations of Azerbaijan, and the Confederation’s Vice President, Vugar Zeynalov. During the meeting, the Azerbaijani side welcomed the Joint Chamber’s plans to organize a dedicated Iranian pavilion at the construction and Karabakh reconstruction exhibition scheduled to be held in Baku in October. The Iranian delegation described the Confederation’s recent efforts in qualifying and introducing suppliers of essential goods for Iran and Ardebil province as a valuable step. They also commended the Confederation’s cooperation in establishing new northern transit corridors for delivering Iranian-requested commodities, including staple goods and day-old broiler chicks of British breed, via the Europe-Turkey-Azerbaijan route. Both parties stressed the need to expand information exchanges between development companies sought by either side, with particular emphasis on firms active in water management and watershed engineering, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, essential goods, animal and human inputs, and public tenders.

Vice president of Iran Chamber of Commerce and Iran’s ambassador to Azerbaijan discussed measures to facilitate the supply and transit of essential goods to Iran during a meeting in Baku on Monday. Hossein Pirmoazzen, vice president of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture and head of the Iran-Azerbaijan Joint Chamber of Commerce, met Iranian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mojtaba Demirchilou during a visit by an economic delegation from Iran’s Ardabil province. The discussions focused on accelerating transportation and customs clearance procedures, strengthening logistics cooperation and making greater use of Azerbaijan’s transit infrastructure to help meet part of Iran’s demand for essential goods and raw materials. Pirmoazzen said Iran’s private sector was ready to coordinate with relevant authorities and the Iranian embassy in Baku to speed up the transfer of essential goods, production inputs and other needed items into Iran. He also stressed the need to address bottlenecks in border transportation, facilitate truck movements, improve customs coordination and maximize the use of regional transit corridors to support trade flows and goods supply. Demirchilou said the Iranian embassy in Baku was prepared to assist efforts aimed at facilitating trade, transportation and coordination related to the supply and transfer of essential goods to Iran. The two sides also reviewed ways to expand cooperation between economic actors in Iran’s Ardabil province and Azerbaijan and increase private-sector trade engagement.