Former SAARC Chamber Chief Iftikhar Ali Malik urges institutionalised Pak-Iran trade

Business leader calls for export-led growth, energy cooperation, and one-window SIFC facilitation to strengthen cross-border economic ties and lower transaction costs.

Former President of the SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Iftikhar Ali Malik, has called on the federal government to accelerate efforts to convert Pakistan’s diplomatic engagements with Iran into robust economic growth. In an official statement, Malik proposed a comprehensive two-pronged strategy that balances the expansion of cross-border commerce with Iran alongside an enhanced Pakistani presence across broader regional and global economic networks.

Malik emphasised that long-term fiscal prosperity requires the formal institutionalisation of bilateral cooperation, particularly across the energy, logistics, and trade sectors. He highlighted that closer economic alignment with Tehran would yield immediate dividends for Islamabad, including access to affordable energy supplies, a reduction in cross-border smuggling, and significantly lower transaction costs. He noted that these improvements would ultimately elevate Pakistan’s wider international economic outlook.

To unlock this potential, Malik underscored the necessity of internal regulatory reforms. He advocated for targeted monetary and fiscal incentives channelled through commercial banks, simplified tax frameworks, and the utilisation of the Special Investment Facilitation Council’s (SIFC) one-window mechanism to streamline administrative processes. According to Malik, such steps are critical to enabling Pakistan’s well-capitalised base of family-owned businesses and the wider private sector to lead national economic development.

The business leader concluded that diplomatic initiatives can only deliver substantial commercial returns if backed by domestic policies that prioritise value addition, foreign direct investment (FDI), and technology transfer. By combining cross-border infrastructure initiatives with aggressive export-led growth and import substitution, Malik stated that Pakistan can successfully turn regional proximity into sustainable job creation and financial stability.