This was part of Mr. Rouhani’s agenda to meet world leaders. Already, Rouhani had met British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Francois Hollande, where he objected that JCPOA implementation had not been turned to benefit Iran in the manner it was supposed to do.
Rouhani and Sharif both believed that Iran and Pakistan should expand relations to levels higher than the current level; Rouhani highlighted common historical and cultural affinities of Iran and Pakistan and the importance his government attached to relations with this southeastern neighbor; “Pakistan is a neighbor country and we see Gwadar port city not a rival for Chabahar and believe that development of the port would not undermine Chabahar’s role as a port of importance,” Rouhani told Sharif; “Iran welcomes contributing to Pakistan’s energy sector through providing gas via pipelines the construction of which has been suspended; banking and financial ties are also important in transactions, and both sides should work to remove hurdles to rapid banking exchanges.”
Rouhani said that both sides had scored huge success in restoring security to borders, but that cooperation should continue to safeguard the status quo. Mr. Nawaz Sharif for his part believed that Iranian and Pakistani economies were complementary and capacities should be expanded to facilitate trade and exchanges; “we see Chabahar not a rival and threat to Gwadar port, but a corridor to trilateral Iran-Pakistan-China economic relations,” he said.
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