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Iran, Pakistan urge stronger ties
[Dawn] Iran's diminutive President Mahmoud Short RoundAhmadinejad  and visiting Pak President Asif Ali President Ten PercentZardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... called on Saturday for a boost to bilateral relations, the official IRNA news agency reported. "Iran is ready to reinforce its cooperation with Pakistain in every field,"Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying. "Construction of the pipeline to export Iranian gas to Pakistain is underway, and we hope it will reach the frontier by the end of 2012," he added of a multi-billion-dollar project. Zardari also said relations between the neighbours should be strengthened, and urged that "trade between the two countries be conducted in local currency and not the dollar, to curb smuggling," IRNA said. He also denounced "efforts by our enemies who seek to show that the Pak government is unstable by provoking trouble," saying that those responsible would face justice. Zardari's trip to Tehran comes after Washington deferred $800 million (566 million euros) in military aid to Islamabad in a bid to seek greater defence cooperation. It also comes less than a month after Iran, Pakistain and Afghanistan agreed to cooperate to fight against cut-thoats. Zardari's earlier visit had been to attend a counter-terrorism summit, on the sidelines of which the three countries reached the anti-militant cooperation agreement. "After the conference and the tripartite Afghanistan-Iran-Pakistain meeting, we decided to pursue bilateral relations," foreign ministry front man Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted on state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe? as saying before Saturday's visit. Posted by: Fred 2011-07-17 |
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