ISLAMABAD - The Ambassador of Islamic Republic of Iran, Mehdi Honardoost hosted a reception at a local hotel in Islamabad to mark the 38th anniversary of the victory of Islamic Revolution and the national day of Iran.
Federal Minister of Commerce, Khuramm Dastgir Khan was the chief guest while Raja Ashfaq Sarwar Provincial Minister of Punjab for Labour & Human Resource was also a special guest as he was representing Mian Shahbaz sharif, the Chief Minister Punjab.
During the ceremony national anthems of Pakistan and Iran were sung by the students of local school.
The Iranian Ambassador Mehdi Honardoost is very active to promote trade and economic relations between Pakistan and Iran. In fact, the bilateral trade had increased 35 per cent and by removal of impediments it would increase up to 5 billion dollars between the two counties.
In the last few months, Mehdi had visited many chambers of commerce and indicated the factors which limit the trade between the two countries.
The Ambassador of Turkey S Babur Girgin was also hopeful to upgrade the road link between Pakistan, Iran and Turkey. The cargo between Pakistan and Turkey would start to move in near future and it will take only seven days to move goods from Lahore to Istanbul, he said.
While talking about the railway links he was keen to start first with the road link. The Ambassador of Iran Mehdi honardoost in his speech said that a revolution occurred almost 38 years back in Iran which converted despotic monarchy to an independent, democratic and Islamic system. The revolution gifted political independence to the people of Iran and the country has acquired tremendous achievements in various fields. Iran has secured 20th position in the world in automobile production. It is the 4th country in the world of steel production and is the 7th biggest country in nanotechnology, he added.
Focusing on its relation, he added that Iran’s ties with Pakistan have obtained a special status after the Islamic revolution. Both countries are linked together by common history, culture, language and religion and rich heritage of two nations is the biggest asset of friendship and mutual respect between two countries. For promotion of cultural cooperation many activities are in queue in upcoming years.
He further said that Iran has always desired to encourage its relations with Pakistan in every manner. He expressed satisfaction and hoped to obtain fruitful results in number of ongoing projects including Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline and electricity export. The Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir also delivered a speech on this occasion in which he said that Pakistan and Iran have deepest historical and cultural relations which turned into mutual trade partnership.
The bilateral trade between both has shown a great boost and for stable trade relation, an agreement between the State Bank of Pakistan and Iran’s central Bank have also signed.
–The writer is a freelance contributor.
ZAFAR BAKHTAWARI
