PESHAWAR, Feb 21: Iranian Consul General in Peshawar, Hassan Darvesh Wand, has said that Iran and Pakistan are confronted with similar challenges of terrorism, economy, unemployment, narcotics and illiteracy, and they need to strengthen bilateral relations for overcoming these issues.

Speaking at ‘Meet the Press Programme’ of Peshawar Press Club on Thursday, he dispelled the impression about Iran’s interference in Pakistan and said that both the countries had similar enemies, geography and challenges.

Mr Wand said that Iran wanted to further improve trade volume with Pakistan. He said that the current bilateral trade stood at only $1 billion, which could be enhanced to $15 billion through export of meat, fruit, rice and textile products, etc.

The envoy said that Pakistan and Iran could improve tourism, which had high potential on both the sides. He said that the around 1,500 mega watt electricity could be supplied to Pakistan after completion of joint Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI) gas pipeline project.

“We don’t need to look towards any other country for improvement of bilateral economic relations, he remarked and added that Iran and Pakistan should take steps at own level to cope with common challenges.

Mr Wand said that it was essential to remove impediments to economic and trade relations between the two states. He said that they should take benefit from each other experiences and potentials.

He said that the problems commonly faced by the two countries included lack of education, intolerance, nationalism, environment, population growth. —Bureau Report