Tehran, IRNA – Pakistani Ambassador to Tehran Rahim Hayat Qureshi in a meeting with the Managing Director of the Islamic Republic News Agency on Monday called for the strengthening of cooperation between Islamabad and Tehran in all areas.
He pointed out that there are no limits and boundaries for upgrading Pakistan-Iran cooperation in different fields.
Qureshi said that his country is ready to reinforce cultural and media cooperation between Iran and Pakistan in various areas.
He appreciated the interest shown by and the kindness of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei towards the Pakistani nation, and said, “Since the coming to power of President Ebrahim Raisi’s government, the relations between Tehran and Islamabad have witnessed an upward trend.”
Qureshi once again reiterated his government’s firm position on opposing the oppressive sanctions imposed against Iran, and said, “We believe that these sanctions has put the Iranian nation under pressure and it goes without saying that when a part of Muslim Ummah face difficulty and damage; other Muslim nations will also suffer.”
The Pakistani ambassador, who is on diplomatic mission in Tehran for three years, said, “For the past three years I have tried my best to further strengthen Pakistan-Iran relations and signing some documents and cooperation pacts, as well as exchange of delegations between the two countries are examples of such efforts.”
Pakistan’s ambassador referred to setting up and expansion of joint border markets as one of the effective factors in the expansion of trade and economic relations between Iran and Pakistan, and expressed hope that two joint border markets will be set up between Iran and Pakistan in the near future.
He, meantime, said that according to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the two countries, a sum of six joint border markets will be established between the two countries.
Qureshi described setting up joint border markets between Iran and Pakistan as an effective step in strengthening economic cooperation between the two countries.
He said that Tehran and Islamabad have the capacities to broaden economic exchanges in different formats, including barter trade exchanges.
Pakistan’s ambassador also referred to exchange of different political, economic and defense delegations between Iran and Pakistan, and said that this shows that the importance given by the two countries officials to the expansion of relations, and said, “We will witness the exchange of different delegations between the two countries at different levels in the coming months.”
Qureshi, meanwhile, pointed to the important and valuable status of Iran’s cinema, and said that his country is ready to screen Iranian movies in Urdu language for the Pakistani nation.
“We are also ready to expand our relations with Iran in different cultural fields, including cinema era,” he added.
Qureshi described Iran’s tourism and historical attractions as unique and while referring to Pakistan’s tourism attractions, he said that there are very good capacities for the development of tourism cooperation between Pakistan and Iran.
During the meeting which was held in a warm and intimate atmosphere; IRNA Managing Director Ali Naderi while referring to deep and friendly relations between Tehran and Islamabad called for the expansion and deepening of cultural and media relations between the two countries.
While elaborating on President Raisi’s principled policies on expansion and deepening of relations with the neighboring countries, especially Pakistan, Naderi said since the beginning of President Raisi’s government, Iran-Pakistan relations in different fields have been developed.
IRNA’s managing director described the trend of expansion Tehran-Islamabad relations as growing and while pointing to the ongoing negotiations for holding joint economic commission in the near future said that the Islamic Republic of Iran attaches special priority to the expansion of relations with its neighbors.
Naderi said that hosting joint economic commission by Islamabad can expedite the further of expansion of relations between the two countries.
While briefing Pakistan’s ambassador on IRNA’s specialized activities in different news fields, especially in different languages, the IRNA chief said that in addition to the Persian language, IRNA broadcasts news in nine other languages, including the Urdu language which is one of the old languages with a large population of speakers.
He underscored that due to the need to reflect Iran’s important news for Pakistan’s public opinion, IRNA is planning to strengthen the Urdu language.
“The presence of IRNA in Pakistan dates to over 30 years ago and the news agency has the monitoring and following up of Pakistan’s developments with the aim of informing Iranians on its agenda,” Naderi added.
The IRNA chief also referred to Iran’s rotating presidency and hosting OANA meeting and while inviting Pakistan’s media officials to attend the meeting, expressed the hope that by signing media cooperation MoU between IRNA and APP (Pakistan’s state news agency), the media and news cooperation between the two sides will be further expanded.
Source: Islamic Republic News Agency – IRNA
