United Nations, Pakistan has vowed to deepen bilateral cooperation with Dhaka and Tehran, as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met his Bangladesh counterpart Tarique Rahman and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Sharif also congratulated Bangladesh Foreign Minister Khalilur Rehman on assuming the presidency of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly. “I reiterated Pakistan’s deep concern over the prolonged conflict and stressed the urgent need for restraint, de-escalation and sustained diplomacy. The meeting between the two leaders came days after Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi visited Tehran for talks with Iranian leaders and officials, seeking to revive Islamabad’s diplomatic efforts to ease tensions between Iran and the US amid a continuing standoff.
“In our most useful discussion, Prime Minister Rehman and I agreed to further deepen Pakistan-Bangladesh bilateral cooperation in trade, investment, connectivity, education, tourism and people-to-people exchanges, while maintaining close coordination between our two countries on regional and global issues as well as at multilateral fora,” the prime minister said. In his meeting with Pezeshkian, Sharif said he “reaffirmed the deep and longstanding bonds between Pakistan and Iran” and their “shared desire to further strengthen bilateral cooperation” across all areas of mutual interest. “We also had an important exchange on the evolving regional situation,” the prime minister said in a social media post on Thursday. “We remain committed to building on the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding and will continue to play a sincere and constructive role in the pursuit of lasting peace and stability in the region,” Sharif said.
