Iranian President Rouhani's visit to Pakistan significant: Analyst

Press TV has interviewed Mirza Shahzad Akbar, director of Foundation for Fundamental Rights in Islamabad, to discuss the remarks made by President Hassan Rouhani on the second day of his two-day official visit to Islamabad, saying Iran attaches great importance to the expansion of relations with Pakistan.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: First of all, give us your thoughts on the importance of enhancing ties between Iran and Pakistan.  

Akbar: Well it is a very significant visit of President Rouhani and it is at a very important juncture of geopolitical situation because Iran has just started opening up and the Western world has also started opening up towards Iran and Pakistan’s growing energy requirement is also something that has been pending under the international pressure, for example talking on gas pipeline is one thing on top of the agenda and as Pakistan and the Afghanistan region is moving towards building peace in the region, Iran will also play a significant and important role. Therefore, this visit of President Rouhani is very timely and it has great importance and significance not just for Pakistan but the whole neighborhood.

Press TV: And also elaborate on the expansion in the area of security between the two countries. Of course cooperation on various fields including economic development and etc. was proposed but also this is all on the condition of increasing security ties between the two countries.

Akbar: One important thing here to note from Pakistan’s point of view is security situation and especially as Iran is bordering the province of Balochistan of Pakistan and it is going to play a very vital role in coming days for Pakistan given the economic corridor that is being built with China and the Gwadar Port and we also had a history of disturbance and security issues in Balochistan and therefore cooperation from Iranian side is not only welcomed in Pakistan but it is going to build stronger relations between the two countries.

 Just to give you one example, a couple of days ago Pakistani government has announced an arrest of an Indian naval officer who was working in Indian intelligence service and he was arrested and he supposedly entered from Iran side. Therefore President Rouhani today in very clear terms has offered Pakistan his full support in investigation into this specific matter and then general security cooperation between two countries and I think that will take care of some confidence building ... between the two countries and neighbors.

Press TV: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that Tehran and Islamabad can tap into their potential ... secure sustainable development for both nations. Please elaborate on how vast that potential really is.  

Akbar: Of course there is no doubt about that potential that has with this cooperation between Iran and Pakistan. As I was mentioning earlier, the gas pipeline is one because if Pakistan is going to build its economic corridor with China, the lack of energy that Pakistan is facing now is one big question mark for success of that CPEC, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and that lack of energy can be fulfilled and catered for very easily and on very low cost by Iran and therefore this cooperation in making this whole project successful is extremely important.

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