The Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar has reached New York, to attend the historic 78th annual Summit of the UN General Assembly. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Kakar held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the UNGA with President Ebrahim Raisi wherein both leaders discussed bilateral relations and weighed the scope for further cooperation between their nations.
The bilateral relations between Pakistan and Islamic Republic of Iran have improved significantly in recent years. Both nations face the same economic and security challenges amid a high level of poverty, difficult geographical terrain coupled with grave security risks, border insurgencies and transnational crimes such as drug and human trafficking, oil and goods smuggling on their joint border. Such convergence of economic, trade, administrative and security problems have created vast opportunities for their teamwork and enhanced cooperation to collectively resolve common issues of their masses.
Recently, during the visit of the Iranian Foreign Minister to Pakistan, both countries struck various agreements including the protocols of bilateral economic consultation, and formation of the joint investment committee (JIC) along with a five-year trade cooperation plan to boost bilateral trade between Pakistan and Iran during the next five years from 2023-2028. While the magnificent project of border markets has achieved significant progress after the third border market at Pashin-Mand border crossing started working in the past months.
Historically, Pakistan and Iran are two brotherly Muslim countries, who are firmly tied in multiple bonds of history, religion, culture and heritage, language as well as Muslim brotherhood and good neighborliness. Their joint work has always benefited both nations while their disunity and noncooperation largely used by their enemies to their advantage throughout history. After the recent rapprochement between Riyadh and Tehran, and President Raisi’s Neighbour first policy had surely ramped up the frequency of contacts/ visits and pace of cooperation between the two nations. In fact, no nation is neither self-sufficient nor could survive in isolation on its domestic resources. Meanwhile, interlinked problems, territorial and management disputes could only be resolved through teamwork and cooperation. The tremendous opportunities await to transform the destiny of both nations , if Pak-Iran leadership make sincere and whole hearted efforts toward that end.
