Unisame felicitates railway minister for Quetta-Zahidan container service

Karachi, June 09, 2015 (PPI-OT): The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME) felicitated the minister for railways Khwaja Saad Rafiq on the resumption of the Quetta -Zahidan container service and welcomed the service as a promotion of business of SME traders.

President UNISAME Zulfikar Thaver said the resumption of service after 4 years is indeed very beneficial for the SME exporters of rice and importers of chemicals from Iran. The SME rice exporters are encouraged and look forward to doing good business on this route. Thaver urged the government to arrange currency swap with Iran to enable the rice exporters to export to Iran.

Iran is a very big buyer of Pakistani rice and if Iran starts buying it will resolve the issues of the rice industry which is going through turmoil. It is very important that arrangements are made between Iran and Pakistan for smooth transactions for payments from Iran for Pakistani goods and likewise payments from Pakistan for imports of Irani goods. Iran is in a position to offer chemicals and petro chemical goods at competitive rates and Pakistan could benefit due to lower freight rates due to vicinity.

The SME rice exporters are very hopeful that the train service between Quetta and Zahidan will induce the Iranian buyers to buy rice from Pakistan and sell their goods to Pakistan. The SME rice exporters have appreciated the co-operation and support of the Iranian government to supply diesel at subsidized rates to the locomotives and urged the Iranian government to re-open rice trade with Pakistan through the sea route as well to compliment trade for mutual benefit.

For more information, contact:
Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME)

Posted in: Press Releases