ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Bahrain have resolved to further strengthen their security collaboration in various fields, Pakistani state media reported on Saturday.

The consensus was reached during a meeting between Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and his Bahraini counterpart, General Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al-Khalifa, in Manama.

The two sides held discussions on bilateral cooperation in counter-terrorism, combating human trafficking and anti-narcotics efforts as well as to make Pakistan-Bahrain Joint Security Committee more effective.

“Enhancing cooperation in counter-narcotics and anti-human trafficking efforts is the need of the hour,” Naqvi was quoted as saying by the Radio Pakistan broadcaster.

The Bahraini interior minister said his country valued Pakistan’s cooperation in security and other fields.

Bahrain is one of the important countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and a favorite destination for the Pakistani workforce since the early 1970s, according to the Pakistani foreign ministry.

Both countries have a Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) at the level of the foreign ministers and a trade volume that has ranged between $500 million and $1 billion in recent years.