Opening Remarks by the Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Jalil Abbas Jilani
His Excellency, my very dear brother, Mr. Hossein Amir Abdollahian, distinguished members of the Iranian delegations, respected members and distinguished members of the media.
I'm extremely delighted to welcome my brother, foreign minister Mr. Hossein Amir Abdollahian and his accompanying delegation to Pakistan.
Foreign Minister Abdollahian graciously accepted my invitation to visit Pakistan when we spoke to each other on 19th January. His visit at such a short notice testifies to a deep commitment of both sides to further strengthen and solidify the fraternal ties between Pakistan and Iran. It's a relationship which is steeped in shared religion, history, culture and geography. And this is a relationship which is also underpinned by strong bonds of amity and brotherhood.
We had detailed and comprehensive exchange of views on all issues of interest to both countries. Our discussions were marked by convergences on all issues of mutual interest. The close relationship between Pakistan and Iran, are not only imperative for shared prosperity and development of our two peoples, but also an important source of stability for the region.
Guided by this spirit, Pakistan and Iran have resolved to expand our cooperation especially in the political and security domains. The threat of terrorism poses a common challenge to both our countries. Pakistan and Iran have agreed to adopt collective and collaborative approaches to confront this menace by fully leveraging the robust institutional mechanisms, which already exist between our two countries.
Respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity remain the immutable and foundational principle of this cooperation. We have also agreed to prioritize economic uplift and development of our border areas. The joint inauguration of Mand-Pishin border sustenance marketplace and Gabd-Bolan electricity transmission line projects by the two leadership in April 2023, was a tangible manifestation of this shared commitment. We have also agreed to fast track operationalization of the five remaining border markets.
There are certain outcomes of this important meeting that we had between our two sides and I would like to list those in order to summarize our discussions. We have agreed to establish a high level consultative mechanism at the level of the foreign ministers of the two countries. This high level mechanism will meet alternatively, in both Iran and Pakistan on a regular basis, to oversee the progress that is being made in various areas of our cooperation.
There was an agreement to cooperate, to fight terrorism, in our respected areas and the need to address and allay each other's concerns with regards to terrorism. And in this connection, we have agreed to station the liaison officers on which an agreement was already in place at the earliest in our two countries. These liaison officers will be deployed in Turbat and Zahedan.
And as I mentioned earlier, these border markets that we have established and the ones which are likely to be established in the near future will be operationalized at an early date. And once again, I would like to thank profoundly, our dear friend, and my dear brother, Foreign Minister of Iran, Amir Abdollahian.
Opening Remarks by the Foreign Minister of Islamic Republic of Iran, Hossein Amir Abdollahian
In the name of Allah the most compassionate, the most merciful. At the beginning, I would like to warmly appreciate my dear brother Jilani, the Honorable Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan for inviting me and extending me welcoming hospitality. Thank you.
I would like to reiterate that if you look at different parts of the world, you can hardly find any two countries like Iran and Pakistan, enjoying great cultural geographical, as well as historic commonalities. If you look at the history of Iran and Pakistan, you will see that there has never been any case of the territorial differences or border problems and issues between Iran and Pakistan. So this is one of our prize and this is one of the very clear manifestation of our good bilateral relationship.
Our historical, bilateral relations and connections testify that you find we are a single nation located in two different geographical positions. As stated previously, we consider Pakistan’s security as a brotherly, friendly and neighborly country of Iran, as the security of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the security of the whole region. Both sides, I mean Iran and Pakistan, are trying to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of each other.
Today we are in Islamabad, the beautiful capital of Pakistan. To accompany my dear brother Jilani, we are here so that in a very loud voice, we will tell to all terrorists, that we will not, Iran and Pakistan will not, provide them with any opportunity, to the terrorists, to endanger our common security.
In recent years, both Iran and Pakistan have given an extended, a big number of martyrs in the way of fighting against terrorists and terrorists have incurred great damages to our countries. There is no doubt that the terrorists located in the common border regions and areas of Iran and Pakistan are led and supported by the third countries and they never favor any good actions in line with the benefits and interests of the Iranian and Pakistani governments and nations.
Today the two high ranking delegates and delegations of Pakistan and Iran, we agreed together in order to take further actions as soon as possible when it comes to border security, necessity of fighting against terrorism, expansion of trade, commercial and economic cooperation, establishment of the Joint Border markets and opening of the border crossing, as well as establishment of the free trade zones.
We agreed together, that our joint orders should be translated into orders of trade, orders of development and progress for our provinces which are located at our bordering regions. Through joint cooperation between Tehran and Islamabad, we will not let the terrorists endanger and threaten the security of the two nations and two countries of Iran and Pakistan.
I received the official invitation of Pakistan to His Excellency President Raisi to pay a visit to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and my dear colleague Jilani as much as myself agree that we need to this visit as soon as possible in the convenient time in future and we need to establish some good progress for this visit we made to the brotherly and friendly country of Pakistan.
Also, we agreed about the necessity of expanding pilgrimage tourism between Iran and Pakistan and we agreed about the necessity of finalizing the projects on energy cooperation between our two countries. And in near future, we will witness the exchange of delegations between our two countries in this regard.
When it comes to regional as well as international parties, Iran and Pakistan have always ensured very constructive and positive cooperation together. Hereby I would like to warmly appreciate the nation and government of Pakistan for adopting very strong positions to support the resistant and innocent people of Palestine. We deeply and sincerely believe that followers of Shia and Sunnah, Muslims, they are all the same and we are following the same religion. Islamic Republic of Iran will continue extending its strong support to the people of Palestine and the Palestinian resistance.
In conclusion, I would like to wish a very successful and safe election for the Pakistani people and government and I pray to grant all the best to my dear Pakistani sisters and brothers
QUESTIONS FROM THE MEDIA
Spokesperson MoFA: Thank you very much. Given the short time that we have, we'll take two questions from each side, Iranian side and Pakistani side. So we'll start from the Iranian media.
Ms. Ahmedi from Iran Press
Question no 1: Thank you very much for the opportunity, Your Excellencies. The question I have, I would like both of you to respond, please. The two countries recently faced a major crisis. How will the two sides develop confidence and move forward to overcome this stage?
Response by Foreign Minister of Pakistan
I think this is a very important question and which is also in the minds of a lot of people because this is certainly, we have been able to to bring this situation back to normal in the shortest possible time. But you need to understand that in the last 70 years or so, Pakistan and Iran have developed a robust cooperation between themselves we have strong people-to-people contacts, we have religious ties, we have historical ties, we have cultural ties between our two countries and these ties are extremely important for our two countries to have a common security and common development, peace and prosperity for each other.
We have several channels of communication between our two sides. At the leadership level, there are strong channels of communications, I have had the pleasure of interacting with my brother on a number of occasions and we have established a degree of trust between each other. We are able to discuss issues on a regular basis on telephone with each other.
Then we have channels of communications between the level of the army chief and the Iranian, senior military leadership. We have directors general of military operations, they cooperate and they talk to each other on a regular basis. Then we have sector commanders, so I think all these channels they were a bit operational and we were able to bring whatever issues or misunderstanding that had been created between our two countries, we were able to resolve it fairly quickly.
I think the important thing for us is that there is a strong sentiment in Pakistan that peace and prosperity and security of Iran is something which is extremely important for Pakistan and for the region. And we have very strong reason to believe that Iran is also motivated by fine the same sentiment that exists in Pakistan vis-à-vis Iran, and this is something that we discussed this morning. We had two sessions and this is what my brother, he was also able to assure me that this sentiment is exactly the same sentiment that exist on the other side of the board as well.
Response by Foreign Minister of Iran
What we faced, we cannot call it a crisis. As I pointed out previously, the two countries have deep historical links and commonalities. So when it comes to Tehran and Islamabad bilateral relations, we cannot call it as crisis. As you know we exchange delegations with Pakistan at different levels and in recent months, as you know, at the common border regions, our two countries, we established common Joint Border markers, as well as electricity transfer line by the presence of the Prime Minister of Pakistan and His Excellency President Raisi. So accordingly there are very strong cultural, military, security and trade links between Iran and Pakistan. Accordingly it was natural that we would overcome this situation and managed to leave it behind and continue our fundamental cooperation. Thank you
Spokesperson MoFA: Thank you. Ms. Sumaira
Question no 2:
Thank you very much. This is Sumaira Khan from SAMA television. My question is from respected Iranian foreign minister. So first of all, we saw that the situation which was very tense between Pakistan and Iran, it was diffused quite swiftly. And obviously, we would like to know from Iran side, how did you manage to bring it down, the intensity of situation and second, what would be the course of action in future that such incidents are not occurring between the two countries to avoid that?
Response by Foreign Minister of Iran
As I pointed out in the previous question, there is a big range of cooperation and different links between our two countries. And these tension, which was rooted in the fight against terrorism. So according to this link, we could overcome it and solve the issue.
So we agreed to resume our cooperation between Iran and Pakistan in all fields as soon as possible and as my dear brother Jilani already pointed out, we agreed to establish a high ranking Advisory Committee at the level of the ministers of foreign affairs of the two countries alternatively to meet in Islamabad and Pakistan so that we will be able to discuss and review our issue,
Expanding and consolidating our trade and economic cooperation between our two countries will pave the ground in order to direct both countries to the right path of cooperation.
Until the full eradication of the terrorist threats and menaces against the two nations and peoples, Iran and Pakistan, we will continue exchanging and we will continue the deployment of the liaison officers. We will try to implement are already signed security agreements and other security agreements which are to be done between the Iranian military and security officials.
So accordingly, our common cooperation and joint cooperation in the provincial level I mean, the provinces at the border region, as well as at the national level will be directed to be facilitated.
Response by Foreign Minister of Pakistan
As my brother, the foreign minister of Iran has comprehensively responded to this question, I will just add that there is no substitute to close interaction and dialogue between our two countries. And this is something that we have agreed to intensify between our two countries in the days to come and also as he rightly mentioned, that we need to put on fast track all those agreements and understanding that we have reached to address our common challenge related to terrorism in letter and spirit.
As foreign minister of Iran is visiting Pakistan, this is a kind of a demonstration of the close relationship and cooperation between our two countries. We have also extended an invitation to President Raisi to visit Pakistan at his earliest convenience. We are having elections on the eighth of February and following the elections, there'll be a new government and an early visit would be deeply appreciated by the government and people of Pakistan. So this is something that I would like to add to that.
Spokesperson MoFA: I have been told that we don’t have time for more questions so we will close our q&a now and this session. Thank you so much.
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