The Iranian President Dr. Ebrahim Raisi concluded on Wednesday his three-day visit to Pakistan where the two sides agreed to further expand their economic cooperation and adopt collaborative approach to fight the menace of terrorism.
A joint statement released by the Pakistani Foreign Office at the culmination of Iranian President’s visit to Pakistan saying that both sides 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 joint border markets, economic free zones, and new border openings.
The leadership of both the countries reiterated the importance of cooperation in energy, including trade in electricity, power transmission lines and Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline Project, it said.
The two sides agreed to boost their bilateral trade to ten billion dollars over the next five years, it continued. Both sides underscored the imperative of a long-term durable economic partnership
and collaborative regional economic and connectivity model, particularly for socio-economic development in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan Province and Pakistan’s Balochistan Province, it noted.
They also agreed to facilitate regular exchange of economic and technical experts, as well as delegations from Chambers of Commerce from both countries to intensify economic cooperation. There was consensus to fully operationalize trade mechanisms between the two countries to facilitate economic and commercial activity, particularly under ongoing collaborative endeavors, such as border sustenance markets, which would contribute towards improvement of the economic situation of local residents, and further constitute a step towards enhancing border security, it added.
According to the joint statement, both sides recognized that terrorism posed a common threat to regional peace and stability and presented a major impediment to the development of the region.
It was agreed to adopt a collaborative approach to confront thi
s 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 highlighted the need to resolve the issue of Kashmir through dialogue and peaceful means based on the will of the people of the region, and in accordance with international law.
They called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, unimpeded humanitarian access to the besieged people of Gaza, return of the displaced Palestinians, as well as ensuring accountability of the crimes being committed by the Israeli regime. They reiterated their support for a just, comprehensive, and durable solution based on the aspirations of the people of Palestine.
Source: Kuwait News Agency