The closing ceremony of the Joint Economic Commission was held in the presence of "Rostam Ghasemi", the Minister of Roads and Urban Development of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Chairman of the Joint Economic Commission and "Syed Naveed Qamar", the Minister of Commerce of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, on Thursday afternoon in Islamabad, the capital of this country. In this two-day event, Rostam Ghasemi, the Minister of Roads of our country, also met with high-ranking Pakistani officials and discussed the agenda of the 21st meeting of the Joint Economic Commission and ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation. Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Pakistan, members of our country's delegation and some officials of various ministries of Pakistan were present at the signing ceremony of the cooperation agreements. During the meeting of the Joint Economic Commission, Iran and Pakistan signed various memorandums of understanding to expand mutual cooperation in the fields of trade, media and communication, maritime and museum and tourism. In this ceremony, a memorandum of cooperation was also signed between the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) and the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) as the official news agencies of the two countries.
The heads of the Joint Economic Commission of Iran and Pakistan, after signing the memorandums of cooperation, during a conversation with the media, emphasized mutual determination to implement the agreements and achieve common goals, including increasing the volume of bilateral trade up to 4 billion dollars. Rostam Ghasemi, the Minister of Roads and Urban Development, expressed his hope for the cooperation of the Pakistani side in holding the said commission, that the Pakistani authorities will take quick measures to implement the decisions taken so that we can help to expand the current cooperation. He added: It was agreed that the 22nd meeting of the Joint Economic Commission of Iran and Pakistan will be held in Tehran next year. The head of the Joint Economic Commission of Iran and Pakistan emphasized that we need a pragmatic view to achieve concrete results and benefit from each other's real capacities. During the 2-day meeting of the Joint Economic Commission, the high-ranking delegations of Iran and Pakistan discussed the determination of a 5-year period for the agreement of the Joint Commission, the time frame for finalizing the free trade agreement, finalizing the development plans at the borders, including the opening of border markets, increasing the flight routes between the two countries. Neighboring, maritime transport and various issues related to trade and commercial activities reached constructive agreements.