Pakistan and Iran “reiterated the importance of cooperation in the energy domain, including trade in electricity, power transmission lines and IP Gas Pipeline Project”, says a joint statement issued by the Foreign Office issued after Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi culminated the three-day official visit on Wednesday.
“The two sides agreed to further expand trade and economic cooperation and affirmed their commitment to transform their common border from ‘border of peace’ to a ‘border of prosperity’ through joint development-oriented economic projects, including setting up of joint border markets, economic free zones, and new border openings,” the statement read.
As Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Raisi held talks on a wide range of issues, they agreed to boost their bilateral trade to $10 billion over the next five years.
They also underscored the imperative of a long-term durable economic partnership and collaborative regional economic and connectivity model, particularly for socioeconomic development in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchistan and Pakistan’s Balochistan provinces.
Pakistan and Iran condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, which, they said, posed a common threat to regional peace and stability and presented a major impediment to the development of the region.
They agreed to adopt a collaborative approach to confront this menace and to leverage the existing bilateral institutional mechanisms to effectively combat and counter this threat, while fully upholding the principles of the UN Charter, particularly the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity of member states. Both sides also acknowledged the key role of enhanced economic and commercial opportunities in improving the security environment in the border areas.
At the same time, they also reiterated the importance of forging regular cooperation and exchange of views between political, military and security officials of the two countries to combat threats such as terrorism, narcotics smuggling, human trafficking, money laundering and abduction.
