Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who arrived in Islamabad on Friday for a landmark two-day visit, held talks with Pakistani Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif on Saturday.
“Governments of Iran and Pakistan are resolved to expand bilateral and regional cooperation, and to achieve this end, it is imperative for the two countries’ defense sectors to have a closer cooperation with one another,” said President Rouhani.
Congratulating the Pakistani army on its accomplishments in the fight against terrorism in that country, President Rouhani highlighted the need for maintaining and tightening security at Iran-Pakistan shared borders; “more serious and stronger efforts by Pakistan against those planning to create disturbances at our shared borders can turn these parts into a border for cooperation and security,” he said.
The President went on to add, “we hope to see the implementation of the two countries’ security agreement as soon as possible, as well as better cooperation between the two countries’ armed forces in fighting the terrorists and maintaining security at shared borders.”
The Pakistani army commander, for his part, stressed that Pakistan’s Army fully welcomes expansion of Tehran-Islamabad cooperation and deems the deepening of bilateral ties beneficial to both nations.
General Raheel Sharif underscored the continuation of Pakistani Army’s fierce fight against terrorists, adding “I assure you that we will soon witness a fundamental change in the security of Iran-Pakistan borders. We will make every effort to implement the provisions of the security agreement between the two countries and will not allow any terrorist acts to be carried out in Iran from Pakistan’s territory.”
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