KARACHI: Head of Strategic Council of Foreign Relations and former IranianForeign Minister Dr. Kamal Kharrazi on Friday said the people of Iran andof Pakistan have deep-rooted religious and cultural bonds.

With the improvement in diplomatic and political ties, they will comecloser and bilateral trade and economic cooperation will increase in thebenefit of both the sides.

He was speaking at a roundtable discussion on bilateral, regional andinternational issues with members of the Pakistan Institute ofInternational Affairs (PIIA) here.

Besides a delegation of Iranian scholars and the Iranian Consul General inKarachi, it was participated by senior media persons, writers andintellectual.

He noted that there were ups and downs in the relations at the governmentlevel, but through on-going dialogue on different issues including tradeand investment, these two neighbourly Muslim nations would come closer toeach other and would emerge as strong supporters on many fronts.

‘Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is under negotiations, if successful, therewill come big change,’ he remarked adding that Iranians and Pakistanis hadgreat respect and love for each other.

These two nations could not be separated.There was a big economic potentialon both sides. Bilateral trade and economic cooperation could grow a lot,he said.

To a question, he said that the bilateral trade volume was low for certainreasons. The absence of banking channel between the two countries was oneof the main hindrances. Pakistani banks were hesitant to start theiroperations in Iran due to foreign political pressure, he maintained.

Referring to the Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline project, he said that Iran hadlaid the pipeline up to few kilometres back to its border with Pakistan atthe cost of billions of dollars. Iran is waiting for Pakistan’s action.

He recalled that Iran and Pakistan had been extending support andassistance to each other in difficult times.

Dr. Kamal said that he had visited Pakistan’s main cities forty years ago(in December 1978) to share the message of Iran’s revolutionary leader ImamKhumeni.

Iran’s former minister for foreign affairs strongly rejected that hiscountry had made interventions in other countries and said Iran worked onlyfor Muslims unity and quoted Imam Khumeni’s fatwa, ‘ Anyone who tries todivide Muslims into Shia and Sunni is kafir.’

He cited an example of Iran’s support to Palestinians who are Sunnis and toSyria where a majority of the population was Muslims. Iran also supportedIraqi government against Daish.

However, he made it clear that Iran would not hesitate to support anycountry who opposed Israel.The main focus of his country’s foreign policywas to oppose and resist Israel, the United States and European Union’sinterventions, he said.

He said despite economic pressure due to the USA sanctions, the people ofIran were bold enough to defend their national independence and sovereignty.

‘Iranian people know, how to save their identity and national interests,’he said adding that Iran was ready to have an alternative option.

Although Iran had remained under sanctions for almost forty years, yet hereconomy was sound, rather progressing.

Iran was doing well in science and technology and many other sectors, ‘$105 billion goods, we produce every year,’ he informed.

To a narration that Iran was getting very close to India who had alsoincreased its role in the expansion of Chabahar sea-port, Dr. KamalKharrazi said that Iran had as good relations with India as with Pakistanand other countries especially in the region.

‘We had invited Pakistan, China and other counties to invest in Chabahar.It was an open venue for foreign investment. There was the western corridorand that Gwadar could be interlinked to Chahbahar port as complementary toeach other,’ he said.

Iran had always been supporting Kashmir struggle. Iran had never complainedthat Pakistan had good relations with the USA and Saudi Arabia, he said.

When his attention was drawn to Afghanistan situation, he said thatpeaceful Afghanistan was very important for the entire region includingIran and Pakistan; even for Central Asian states.