TEHRAN – At the preliminary session of ad hoc committees of the 17th Iran-Pakistan Joint Economic Commission meeting Iranian and Pakistani officials here on Saturday uttered their will to expand cooperation.

The ad hoc committees were preparing the documents for final signature at the official commission meeting on Sunday between Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and Pakistan’s Finance Minister Syed Naveed Qamar.
Mahdi Mir Abu Talebi, the Iranian Foreign Ministry director for economic coordination, expressed hope that the 17th commission meeting would take positive steps towards upgrading relations between Tehran and Islamabad and asked officials present at the meeting to do all in their power to realize the goals set by the two countries’ top officials.
He added that the attendants should try to remove all obstacles on the way.
Economic and commercial ties between Pakistan and Iran are promoted through the institutional framework of the Joint Economic Commission which was established in 1986.
The last meeting of the Pakistan-Iran Joint Economic Commission was held in May 2006 in Islamabad