The high-level meeting was co-chaired by Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni and his Pakistani counterpart, Mohsin Naqvi.
Naqvi said the presence of senior representatives from Iran’s Ministries of Industry, Mine and Trade, Oil, Agricultural Jihad, and Roads and Urban Development at the meeting reflected the importance of bilateral cooperation and new measures to open fresh avenues for it.
“Our view of this important visit is a good news for the region,” Naqvi said, welcoming Momeni’s first official trip to the Pakistani capital.
“Iran and Pakistan will work together for the development and welfare of the peoples of both countries, as well as for the establishment of peace in the region,” he said.
Naqvi also addressed the threat of terrorism along the shared border.
“Tehran and Islamabad are determined to control this challenge and will not allow terrorists and their supporters to succeed in their objectives,” he said, adding that close coordination between the two countries’ security agencies was essential to eradicate anti-security elements, particularly their financial backers.
He also raised the issue of human trafficking along the shared border, stressing the need for bilateral cooperation to prevent the use of sea routes for smuggling.
On trade, Momeni presented three priority areas: streamlining commercial truck transit between the two countries, raising bilateral trade to $10 billion, and modernizing the railway line on the Pakistani side of the border.
“The Iranian side has built the railway to near Mirjaveh,” Momeni said, adding that Iran expected Pakistani authorities to give serious attention to upgrading the line on the Taftan side of the border.
He also called on Pakistan to take steps to expand border trade activity at the Rimdan crossing.
Iranian delegation members raised additional proposals, including opening banking relations to facilitate trade, expanding exports of Iranian petroleum products to Pakistan, agricultural cooperation, developing corridor links, including the North-South Corridor, and forming a joint committee to resolve trade issues, centered on Sistan-and-Baluchestan province and Pakistan’s Balochistan province.
Noting Tehran and Islamabad’s shared will to sign a free trade agreement, the Iranian delegation said that if amendments to the initial text are needed, Iran is ready for close cooperation to advance this stage.
The Iranian side also indicated readiness to build cold storage facilities and a slaughterhouse at a Pakistani border point to support livestock and meat trade, while Naqvi suggested the matter could be discussed further between the governors of Sistan-and-Baluchestan and Pakistan’s Balochistan province.
Naqvi announced that both sides were committed to operationalizing a sea route between Chabahar and Gwadar.
“We are determined to make the maritime route between Chabahar and Gwadar operational and can use this route as another step toward developing bilateral trade,” he said.
The Iranian delegation also reported talks with Pakistan’s civil aviation authority, saying Iran is ready to facilitate Pakistan’s aviation needs.
Naqvi raised Islamabad’s concerns over what he described as the terrorism challenge emanating from Afghan territory and called for greater Iran-Pakistan coordination on the matter.
He added that Pakistan’s view on Afghanistan is clear, and that Islamabad is also ready for talks.
In closing remarks, Momeni announced that the two sides had agreed on several concrete outcomes: the early opening of a new Kohak-Chedgi border crossing, expansion of trade at the Rimdan-Gabd crossing, and railway modernization along the shared border.
He added that Pakistan would study issuing formal permits for live livestock exports to Iran to ensure trade revenues did not flow to smugglers or agents of unofficial trade, and that both countries could bring bilateral trade to $5 billion by leveraging agricultural capacity.
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