He said that a high-level delegation headed by Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research (NFS&R) Israrullah Zehri rushed to Tehran on last Sunday to resolve the issues related to quality and pricing, which became a major hurdle to initiating barter trade between the two countries.
Former minister NFS&R Nazar Muhammad Gondal, former secretary NFS&R Shafqat Hussain Nagmi and other senior officials also included in the delegation. The officials said that international fertiliser and wheat prices would be bench mark for barter trade deal between Iran and Pakistan. It was also agreed that Iran would start import of wheat from Pakistan after one month. Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (PASSCO) would make arrangement for exporting wheat to Iran and their experts would check quality of wheat in Karachi, he said.
He said that Pakistan had offered one million tons of wheat to Iran, and in return, Tehran would provide fertilisers and iron ore. Iran had earlier expressed unwillingness to accept Pakistani wheat containing Karnal bunt or Tilletia Indica during a visit of a Pakistani delegation on April 26 this year to Tehran, however, the issue of Karnal bunt resolved during the recent talks between the two countries, he said.
The official said that Pakistan's wheat had 0.3 percent ratio of Karnal bunt (a fungal disease) whereas 1 percent is the internationally acceptable level. Tehran earlier wanted wheat having zero per cent Karnal bunt, he said, adding that 1 percent was not harmful to human health. The proposed arrangement was first discussed in February this year when President Asif Ali Zardari and Iranian President Mehmoud Ahmadinejad held a meeting in Islamabad in which both the leaders determined to raise Pak-Iran bilateral trade to $10 billion.