Islamabad, – Iranian envoy to Pakistan criticized Islamabad on theproblems existing in bilateral banking ties as well as the delay incompletion of Iran-Pakistan gas project. Iran has banking interactions andtrade ties with many countries in the world but this problem has not beenalready resolved between the two countries,’ Iranian Ambassador to PakistanMehdi Honardoost said in a reference to cut of banking ties between the twocountries since the sanctions era, state run IRNA has reported.

Honardoost, speaking at the seminar on ‘Contemporary Relations betweenPakistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia: Present Challenges’ organized by StrategicVision Institute (SVI) in Islamabad, said that Iran and Pakistan have manycommon grounds to build their relations upon.

He cited Pakistan’s ‘being too cautious’ as the reason for the delay inresuming banking ties between Tehran and Islamabad.

Honardoost also expressed dissatisfaction with the level of trade exchangesbetween Tehran and Islamabad.

Transfer of gas from Iran to Pakistan could flourish the region, the envoynoted in a reference to delay in completion of the project by Islamabad for’unclear reasons’.

He noted that the Iranian part of the project is complete, but the projecthas not become operational on the Pakistani side.

Honardoost cautioned about manipulation of extremism by certain elements toprevent improvement of Iran-Pakistan relations.