Naek calls on Ahmadinejad

ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Farooq H. Naek called on Iranian President Mood Ahmadinejad on Friday evening.

The Iranian President said that he always believed that civilization links were deep rooted based on common culture and religion. No active spot could be found in the history of our bilateral relations. Our region was rich and natural resources and the most of our needs could fulfilled through cooperation.

The Senate Chairman conveyed the greetings of the President, the Prime Minister and the people of Pakistan to the President and the brotherly people of Islamic Republic.

Naek said that there was need to handle crises situations in the Middle East and the Gulf region with extreme care and with sense of unity in the Ummah.

He said that it could even threaten the very existence of Islamic states. Peace in Afghanistan was linked with Pakistan and it had no military solution. It could only be resolved through dialogue among the major regional players, including Iran.

The Senate Chairman in his meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, said that Pakistan was against terrorism in its all forms and manifestation and would not allow its soil to be used for spread of terrorism in other countries.

He said that Pakistan believed in the policy of non-interference and non-intervention. The sovereignty and editorial integrity of every state ought to be protected for establishment of permanent peace in the region, he added.

Salehi offered Pakistan to join the recently concluded transit route agreement among five regional countries namely Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Qatar and Oman.

He also offered to provide electricity to Pakistan to overcome the current power shortfall, Both the sides expressed satisfaction on the progress achieved in the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project.

The Senate Chairman said that bilateral efforts should be made to ensure regular running of the goods trains from Pakistan to Turkey through Iran under ECO auspicious.

Both the sides agreed to enhance the frequency of bilateral visits to promote trade and commercial relations.

The Foreign Minister said that he was looking forward to his visit to Islamabad as Iranian side in Joint Economic Commission meeting where he would like to finalize the road map for increasing the volume of bilateral trade from the current level of 2 billion to over $5 billion.

The Senate Chairman during his meeting with Iranian Speaker Ali Larijani said that the government and the President of Pakistan have emphasized a special priority towards further strengthening bilateral ties.

He said, "We deeply value our relations with Iran and want to enhance them". He also extended an invitation to iranian Speaker to visit Pakistan.

The Senate Chairman also met with Aladdin Boroujerdi, head of the foreign Policy and Security Council Commission of the Iranian Majlis, during which he said that relations between Pakistan and Iran can lead to the unity of the Muslim Umah.

He said both Pakistan and Iran have suffered from terrorism and therefore they should enhance their cooperation against the common threat.

Heading a high level delegation, the Senate Chairman arrived in Tehran on Wednesday evening and was warmly welcomed by senior officials from the Iranian Parliament and Foreign Ministry.