LAHORE - The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Tuesday urged the Iranian authorities not to close Taftan border for trade purposes as being sole land route between Pakistan and Iran. However, LCCI fully supports borders closure for the traffic other than trade caravans. In a statement issued here, the LCCI President Mian Muzaffar Ali and Convener LCCI Standing Committee on Excise and Taxation Shahzad Azam Khan, who were also part of Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharifs delegation to Iran last month, said that sealing of border is hurting trade between the two countries contrary to the efforts of two governments to increase the two way trade volume. They said that LCCI understands well that foolproof security is the internal issue of every country and it has the right to take every step to avert any untoward incident but at the same time it is bound to take care of business-doing people. They said that the authorities of the two sides should sit together and a proper strategy should be evolved to cope with the situation, as the closure of the border would cause a loss of millions of dollars to the business community of the two sides. They urged the Iranian Ambassador in Pakistan to look into the matter and take immediate measures in this regard. The LCCI President said that it was a matter of great satisfaction for the business community that both Pakistan and Iran were sincerely and seriously working to further smoothen and broaden their trade relations. He said that both the countries should utilise their respective strengths and potentials to consolidate their respective economies. He, however, made it clear that concrete measures should be taken to curb the menace of smuggling between the two countries. He suggested issuance of Express Cards to the leading businessmen so that they could be able to travel to Iran for business purposes with maximum ease. Both the countries should issue Express Immigration Cards to business travelers to ease efficiency and speed of travel. He said that trade between the two countries is not significant and calls for a drastic improvement to achieve satisfactory results and one of the great hurdles in export from Pakistan to Iran is a higher regime of custom duties on Pakistani products as compared to other countries for similar products. Mian Muzaffar said the lack of logistic infrastructure is another hurdle in improving business relations. Pakistan is known all over the world for its textile potential and products, which still needs to be properly introduced and marketed in Iran. Similarly, products like plastic and petrochemicals are transported to Pakistan through irregular channels. Therefore, there is a need to rationalise the system. There is also a need for better utilisation of resources in the fields of agriculture, mineral potential, post harvest technologies like processing, storage, packaging and transportation etc, dairy sector, meat and food processing sector. He said that there is a lot of scope for collaboration in energy sector, paper and board, sugar, cement, chemicals, textiles and hides, transport and communication, construction of roads in Pakistan, scientific and educational cooperation, handicrafts, jewellery, carpets, fancy furniture etc. He said that both the countries needed to have the highest level of bilateral trade to cope with global challenges. He said that the lack of information was also coming in the way of bilateral trade between Pakistan and Iran and this goal could be achieved with frequent exchange of trade delegations and holding of joint trade exhibitions.