ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Iran on Tuesday agreed to deepen cooperation across trade, agriculture and security during a series of meetings held alongside Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s visit to Islamabad, with Tehran expressing interest in sourcing up to 60 percent of its meat imports from Pakistan and both sides pledging closer collaboration on counterterrorism and cybersecurity.
The discussions came as the two neighbors seek to build on improving ties and recent diplomatic momentum following efforts that helped ease tensions between Iran and the United States.
Pakistan’s Food Security Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain met Iranian Agriculture Minister Gholamreza Nouri Ghezeljeh and discussed ways to expand bilateral trade in agricultural products, including meat, rice and mangoes, while removing procedural bottlenecks hindering commerce between the neighboring countries.
“The Iranian Minister highlighted Iran’s intention to import meat from Pakistan and stated that Pakistan has the capacity to fulfill up to 60 percent of Iran’s total meat import requirements,” Pakistan’s food security ministry said in a statement after the meeting.
“He expressed confidence in the quality and standards of Pakistani livestock products and underscored the importance of establishing efficient trade mechanisms to ensure uninterrupted supplies.”
Hussain said Pakistan possessed significant agricultural production capacity and was capable of supplying high-quality products to the Iranian market.
Both ministers reviewed progress on previous understandings and agreed to implement commitments reflected in a joint communiqué within the next two months, according to the statement. They also directed relevant authorities to expedite procedural requirements and remove bottlenecks hindering trade growth.
In a separate meeting, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and his Iranian counterpart Eskandar Momeni discussed regional developments and the future direction of bilateral cooperation following President Masoud Pezeshkian’s visit to Pakistan.
“During the meeting, the two sides agreed to enhance cooperation in a number of fields, including security cooperation, counterterrorism, cybersecurity and immigration,” the interior ministry said in a statement circulated after the meeting.
It added that Momeni plans a “detailed visit to Pakistan aimed at further advancing cooperation between the interior ministries of the two countries.”
The Iranian minister also praised Pakistan’s role in facilitating contacts between Tehran and Washington and thanked Islamabad for its support during the diplomatic process.
President Pezeshkian’s visit, his first foreign trip since the Iran-US breakthrough, focused on expanding cooperation across a range of sectors as Islamabad and Tehran seek to translate recent diplomatic momentum into deeper economic and strategic ties.
