ISLAMABAD, Aug 31: Pakistan on Thursday notified reduction in customs duty on 463 items to be imported from Iran under the preferential trade Agreement (PTA) effective from September 1, 2006.

The two countries had already finalised and ratified the rules of origin and other instruments of the agreement. The list of items was notified through notification SRO894 of 2006 issued here allowing exemption of customs duty in excess to the duty specified in the list.

The Iranian side has notified exemption on 309 items to be imported from Pakistan under the PTA.

The main items on which exemption was given under PTA includes: shrimps and prawns, eggs for hatching, natural honey, vegetables like cabbage lettuce, cucumbers, peas etc., fruits like kinnoo, watermelons, apples, pears, apricots, cherries etc., black tea, soya beans seeds, linseed, sunflower seeds, betel leaves, palm stearin, RBD palm oil, palm olein, sweat meats, vegetables, fruit, nuts, fruit-peel and other parts of plants, preserved by sugar (drained, glaci or crystallised).

The preferential duty was also given on following items: mineral water, aerated water, table salt, rock salt, sea salt, pebbles, gravel, broken or crushed stone, of a kind commonly used for concrete aggregates, for road metalling or for railway or other ballast, shingle and flint, whether or not heat-treated, petroleum bitumen, marble, granite, various chemicals, acids, automobile parts and textile related products.

The two countries had already inked the PTA framework agreement in March last. The list of items was finalised in the last meeting held in August this year.

Currently Pakistan and Iran have annual trade volume of $394 million which needs to be expedited and that this objective could easily be accessible, when the PTA is converted into a free trade agreement (FTA).

Pakistan intends to enlarge the number of items under PTA to further reduce customs duty on export interest of items between the two countries as to reduce the trade deficit with Iran.