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| Zardari proposes Pak-Iran currency swap |
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 Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday proposed a currency swap agreement between Pakistan and Iran to further strengthen bilateral trade and economic ties between the two brotherly countries.Zardari made this proposal during his meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad here on Saturday. The two leaders expressed their resolve to upgrade and further intensify their existing bilateral ties, particularly in the fields of energy, trade and economic for the mutual benefit of two countries. They also discussed cooperation in the energy sector with particular reference to the Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project besides supply of power from Iran to Balochistan. President Zardari said Pakistan and Iran had the potential to undertaking joint economic projects in Afghanistan in order to enhance connectivity, build infrastructure, rail and road links as well as trilateral cooperation in other mega projects. The President said that considerable work had been done on the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project and it was important now to move towards its implementation phase. Zardari said there was a need to bring about a quantitative increase in Pak-Iran bilateral trade to at least four billion dollars in the next few years which at present was one billion dollars. He called for working together to identify impediments to full implementation of Pak-Iran Preferential Trade Agreement concluded in 2006. He also proposed for a bilateral Pakistan-Iran Free Trade Agreement. Gas pipeline to reach border next year President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said for his part that Tehran was hopeful of completing its section of the Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline by the end of next year. “Construction of the pipeline to export Iranian gas to Pakistan is under way, and we hope it will reach the frontier by the end of 2012,” he said of the multi-billion-dollar project after a meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari. The construction of 1000 kilometer pipeline on the Iranian side has been completed, reports say. The pipeline would have benefited India too. President Asif Ali Zardari after returning home in the early hours of Sunday morning after a brief visit to Iran, asked Petroleum Minister Asim Awan to stay behind and hold further talks with the Iranian petroleum officials for cooperation in the oil and gas sector, an issue that figured prominently in Zardari’s talks with Ahmedinejad. (Source: Agencies)
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