Revival of banking channel between two states vital to enhance trade: Kharrazi

Iran's Head of the Strategic Council of Foreign Relations Dr Kamal Kharrazi the other day said that non revival of banking channel with Pakistan was the main impediment for trade between the two neighbouring Islamic countries.
At a roundtable discussion on bilateral, regional and international issues with the members of Pakistan Institute of International Affairs (PIIA) Kharrazi said that Pakistani banks are refraining to have relations with Iranian counterparts primarily due to international pressure.
He said that lack of political will from Pakistan was one of the major problems that the both countries could not enhance the two-way trade from $200 million despite having huge potential in various fields.
Elaborating, he said, that Pak-Iran Gas Pipeline Project which was signed during the former President Asif Ali Zardari's regime is still hanging in the balance. Iran has completed a significant portion of the project close to the border, whereas, Pakistani government has done nothing in this regard due to American and Saudi influence, he said.
Presently, Iran has good trade relations with various countries such as China, India, and Turkey etc, he said urging Pakistan to come out of internal pressure, and make independent policies and decisions based on national interest that would benefit the country. Reports suggest that overall trade between the two counties saw a drastic decline of some 80 percent in the last five years mainly due to crippling international economic sanctions on Iran.
Kharrazi, who had been the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran, said there has been a sign of positive change in relations between Pak-Iran during the recent months as a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is under negotiation. Once this is done, the bilateral trade would witness a significant growth.
To a query regarding international sanctions, Kamal Kharrazi said, "Yes we have been under sanctions for the last 40 years. People tolerated this because they love the country, ideologically and they want to protect the Islamic revolution."
Iran faced isolation internationally after the imposition of international sanctions on it, but these sanctions, the foreign affairs analyst said, helped the country in various ways. "We have become one of the advanced nations in science and technology and nuclear energy. Our indigenous pharmaceutical industry has made significant growth. The country's intelligence network has become much stronger in recent years," he said.
About Afghan's turmoil, Kharrazi said Afghanistan is an important as a neighbouring country for all of us. We have suffered much due to instability in Afghanistan for the last many years. We support the peace negotiation efforts in Afghanistan.
He said the US has failed to defeat Taliban in their 17-year war and they have no ground for further staying in the Afghanistan. But, he apprehended that the US is not going to leave its troops from Afghanistan as its presence in the country is strategically important (for the US) to keep an eye on Iran, China and Russia etc.
Responding to concerns that were raised by the participants regarding the India-Iran Chabahar project, Kharrazi said: "This is true that we have relations with India. An independent sovereign country should have relations with other nations; there is no problem in it. We don't mind that Pakistan has good relations with US, he said.
But, at the same time, Iran has asked India not to suppress Kashmiris. Iran had offered to become mediator between Pakistan and India to resolve the issue but the later rejected the offer. We continue to voice for the rights of the Kashmiris till the logical conclusion of the dispute, he said.
"Chabahar is open for all. We invite China and Pakistan to invest in this strategic port."
He further said the cooperation of China and Pakistan with Iran's Chabahar may reduce this concern of the people. He said that Iran has good relations with India. He rejected the theory that Iran is interfering in the internal affairs of regional countries saying the country was supporting groups who are against Israel.