Ex envoy urges Iran, Pakistan to boost bilateral, regional ties

In a meeting with the visiting Executive Director of Andishe Sazan-e-Noor Institute of Strategic Studies Tehran Aadollah Zarei, Ambassador (Retired) Khalid Mahmoodalso also urged Tehran and Islamabad to cooperate in the settlement of regional issues including the situation in Afghanistan.
He added that Iran and Pakistan have a long history of cordial ties reminding that Iran was the first country that recognized Pakistan since its creation in 1947.
“On the other hand Pakistan extended support to Iran during eight-year imposed war and Pakistan was the first country to recognize the Islamic Revolution….There have been some ups and downs in the history but fundamental ties of trust and brotherhood have not been affected,” he said.
The expert added people of Pakistan want to have closest friendly ties with their Iranian brothers. “We need to have greater economic cooperation,” he said.
The former ambassador to Iran said the volume of bilateral trade between the two neighboring countries is very low but it is good to see that the leadership of Iran and Pakistan has agreed to the bilateral trade volume to $ 5 billion in coming years. 'It is the duty of both governments to remove trade barriers.'
“Hurdles in the trade are known to us, the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) needs to be implemented in letter and spirit, tariff and non-tariff barriers have to be lowered, banking channel has to be opened, our banks should start operating in each others’ countries as soon as possible and border markets should be established and these impediments can be overcome with strong political will,” Mahmood said.
He also said private sectors of Iran and Pakistan have to play their role and the Joint Economic Commission should address these issues with more seriousness.
He stressed the need for regional cooperation to meet the common challenges and said that a regional approach will be the right option in Afghanistan.
He also warned that counter-forces led by the US are active in the region. 'Americans portray that as if Pakistan is the only country responsible for problems in Afghanistan. In-fact the US itself is responsible for Afghanistan situation.'
He added that the US is pursuing a coercive diplomacy towards Iran and Pakistan and is adopting hawkish policy against China and same is the case with Russia. “There is a need for greater cooperation among regional countries against the hawkish approach of the US,” he said.
The ex envoy suggested that a new alliance among Iran, Pakistan China and Russia is essential for peace and stability in the region.
He said that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a path of greater cooperation in the region, he added, “We welcome Iran's positive interest in the CPEC.'  
“Chabahar port is not a rival port of Gwadar, they are sister ports,” he said referring to the Iranian and Pakistani ports in the Oman Sea.

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