ISLAMABAD: Iran and Pakistan on Monday reaffirmed their commitment to increasing their bilateral trade volume to $10 billion, Iran’s Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni said, following talks with Pakistani counterpart Mohsin Naqvi on the evolving regional situation.
Momeni’s visit comes at a time when more than a week of hostilities between the United States and Iran have threatened to derail Pakistan-led peace efforts to end their conflict, which began in Feb., and have raised fears of its spread to other regional states.
It also reflects growing bilateral engagement between Islamabad and Tehran, with both sides signing several agreements and memorandums of understanding in recent months to increase bilateral trade to $10 billion from the existing around $3 billion.
“To achieve this goal [of $10 billion trade volume], in practice around 2,000 trucks or containers need to move between the two countries every day on average. At present, only about 20 percent of that target is being realized,” Momeni said, following talks with his Pakistani counterpart in Islamabad.
“Therefore, the necessary infrastructure must be provided on both sides of the border. This is one of the topics under discussion,” he said.
“Naturally, regional developments are also among the subjects that will come up on this trip.”
The Iranian interior minister is accompanied by a high-level delegation, including the governor-general of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province, deputy interior minister, deputy minister of urban development and transport, and head of the National Iranian Oil Company, according to the Pakistani interior ministry.
Momeni will meet Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Defense Forces Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir during the visit.
Pakistan, alongside Qatar and other regional states, led a months-long diplomatic push that helped broker the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding between the US and Iran in June.
The agreement committed Washington and Tehran to halt hostilities and launch negotiations on broader disputes. It was followed by talks in Bürgenstock, Switzerland, where officials established a High-Level Committee and adopted a 60-day roadmap for negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program, sanctions relief and a dispute-resolution mechanism.
That process has come under pressure, following renewed fighting this month and competing accusations by Washington and Tehran that the other side violated the agreement. Pakistan has nevertheless maintained that diplomatic channels remain open and that it will continue efforts to facilitate dialogue.
“I hope that Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni has brought good news,” Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi was quoted as saying by his ministry upon welcoming Momeni in Islamabad.
“I also hope for progress on the regional situation,” Naqvi added.
The visit also highlights Pakistan’s increasingly delicate diplomatic position in the region. While Islamabad has sought to position itself as a mediator between Tehran and Washington, it also maintains a longstanding strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia, including security cooperation under a mutual defense framework.
Renewed attacks by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement on Saudi Arabia have raised concerns of a broader regional conflict that could complicate Pakistan’s balancing act between Iran and Riyadh.
Islamabad has repeatedly called for restraint by all sides and said dialogue remains the only viable path to preventing a wider regional conflict.
