Pakistan's Sharif Hosts Iran's Pezeshkian, Agrees to Strengthen Security and Trade

Pakistan and Iran have signed agreements to boost bilateral trade to $10 billion and to collaborate more closely in combating 'terrorism', aiming for peace and prosperity in the region. This comes as both countries have recently been involved in conflicts with their respective regional adversaries.

Sunday’s agreements across various sectors, including energy and trade, were signed during the two-day visit of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, The Caspian Post reports citing Al Jazeera.

“We have set a target of $10bn in trade and hope to achieve it as soon as possible,” Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said, addressing a joint press briefing.

Sharif reiterated Pakistan’s stance of supporting Iran’s right to a nuclear programme for peaceful purposes under the United Nations charter and condemned Israel’s aggression against Iran, saying there was “no justification” for the 12-day June conflict in which the United States militarily intervened on Israel’s behalf.

He said the two countries would take effective steps to eliminate “terrorism” and open the avenues of prosperity in the region. Pakistan and regional rival India were on the cusp of their fifth all-out war earlier this year before a ceasefire ended several days of heavy and deadly aerial exchanges.

The Iranian president said, “My deep belief is that we can easily, in a short time, increase the volume of our trade relations from the current $3bn to the projected goal of $10bn.”

He thanked the government and people supporting Iran “during the 12-day terrorist aggression by the Zionist regime and the United States”.

Analyst Ammar Habib Khan of the Institute of Business Administration told Al Jazeera that the informal trade between Iran and Pakistan is likely to increase more than the formal trade target shared by the countries.

“Discussions have been held on how to formalise the informal trade that is already happening, whether it is oil, gas or something else,” he told Al Jazeera from Karachi.

The analyst said Pakistan’s normalising relations with Iran might lead to the creation of a trade route between Pakistan and Europe.

“It would be an efficient and logistically sound route,” he said.

Along with a high-level delegation, including foreign and defence ministers, Pezeshkian arrived on a two-day visit to Pakistan on Saturday.