KARACHI: Pakistan’s Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on Thursday approved amendments to a barter trade mechanism with Afghanistan, Iran and Russia, in a move aimed at facilitating direct business-to-business exchanges with the three countries.

The decision came at an ECC meeting chaired by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, which also cleared a series of supplementary grants and considered a financial support proposal for the Roosevelt Hotel in New York owned by Pakistan International Airlines.

“The ECC approved a draft Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) as proposed by the Ministry of Commerce, aimed at amending the Business-to-Business Barter Trade Mechanism governing bilateral trade with Afghanistan, Iran, and Russia,” the finance division said in a statement.

Pakistan has maintained barter trade arrangements with these countries not only to ease pressure on its dollar reserves and maintain access to essential imports but also because both Iran and Russia face Western sanctions, with formal banking channels restricted and making it difficult to settle payments in hard currency.

Barter trade provides a practical workaround by allowing Pakistan to exchange goods directly, such as rice, textiles and surgical equipment, in return for oil, wheat, fertilizers and machinery.

The arrangement also works with Afghanistan, a key overland trade route and source of basic commodities like coal, fruits and vegetables.

The ECC also considered a summary from the interior ministry regarding financial support in the form of a technical supplementary grant (TSG) to the Roosevelt Hotel in New York, following the termination of its lease agreement with New York City.

The hotel, a century-old Manhattan property, is considered one of the country’s most valuable foreign assets that the government has been striving to privatize, with interested international consortia submitting their bids last month to advise the government on the process.