Visiting Islamabad to attend the 10th round of the Pakistan-Iran Bilateral Political Consultations, Araghchi held separate talks on Monday with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua, and Chairman of Pakistan Senate's Foreign Relations Committee Mushahid Hussain.
During the talks, both sides stressed the importance of promoting bilateral ties anchored in religious and socio-cultural affinities, and exchanged views on other important regional and international issues including the situation following the US’ unilateral withdrawal Iran’s nuclear deal, the situation of human rights in Kashmir, and the conflict in the Middle East countries.
Both sides agreed to hold the 21st Session of the Joint Economic Commission early next year.
In particular, measures to enhance bilateral trade to achieve the annual target of USD 5 billion through facilitation of business communities, scaling down of trade barriers and speedy progress on facilitating preferential trade were discussed in detail.
The two sides also agreed on the need to further improve railway connectivity between the two countries.
The Pakistan-Iran Bilateral Political Consultations are one of the several important institutional mechanisms to regularly review and chart the way forward in various areas of cooperation.
The meetings are aimed at providing the opportunity to review the progress made under various mechanisms concerning consular, economic, trade and border related issues between the two sides.
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