Islamabad; December 9, 2018: The Speaker National Assembly of Pakistan Asad Qaiser has called for greater interaction and people-to-people contact with our neighbors and entire region for the sake of peace and development. He stressed the need for new synergies of parliamentary and economic cooperation among each other.He expressed these views while talking to Dr. Hassan Rohani, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Speaker of the Wolesi Jirga of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Mr. Abdul Raouf Ibrahimi, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the People’s Republic of China Mr. Chen Zhu and Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav V. Volodin separately on the sidelines of the second Speakers’ Conference in Tehran, Iran.

While talking to the Iranian President, the Speaker said that the Pakistan enjoys close cordial relations with our brotherly neighbor, Iran. The shared sentiments of our friendship are deeply rooted in historical bonds spread over centuries of shared faith, culture, traditions and economic complementarities, he added. Recalling the recent statement of the Iranian Supreme leader in support of the Kashimiris, Asad Qaiser thanked President of Iran and Iranian government for supporting the Kashmir cause. The Kashmir problem is the long standing unresolved disputes which require resolution of problem in accordance with UN Security council resolutions, the Speaker said.

The President of Iran Dr. Hassan Rohani warmly welcomed the Pakistan’s Parliamentary delegation in Tehran and wished the safe stay in the beautiful capital of Iran. He stated that the Iran consider Pakistan as a very important brotherly neighboring Muslim country. The bonds of friendship between Pakistan and Iran have been maintained irrespective of any government in power both in Iran and Pakistan due to commonality of culture. Both of nations have deep links and it go down the long history and rich civilization. The Iranian President stressed upon the need to increase cooperation between Pakistan and Iran in the field of trade, commerce, energy and security.

While meeting with Mr. Abdul Raouf Ibrahimi Speaker of the Wolesi Jirga of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Asad Qaiser said that the new government in Pakistan is committed to robust and friendly relations with Afghanistan. Our two countries are inter-linked and look towards each other with considerable expectations in many areas.  The centuries old bonds and affinities of our people are the real strength of our bilateral relations and need to be leveraged effectively, the Speaker said. Further, he stressed upon increasing interactions among the Parliamentarians of both countries could contribute in building trust and improving mutual understanding.During the meeting, he said that unfortunately, security situation in Afghanistan remains a challenge. Peace and stability in Afghanistan is in the best interest of Pakistan. We believe that Pakistan is key stakeholder and major beneficiary of peace in Afghanistan, he added.

Mr. Abdul Raouf Ibrahimi, Speaker of the Wolesi Jirga stated that terrorism was a common threat and there was a need for concerted effort to fight this menace. He expected that the conference would bear fruitful results since the Parliament, being the representative voice of people, was responsible to play a pivotal role for finding solution to all the prevailing challenges. He also said that the bilateral trade between the two countries had declined over the last few years and, therefore, there was need to enhance economic and political relations.

While meeting with the Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the People’s Republic of China Mr. Chen Zhu, the Speaker National Assembly said that Pakistan and China are close friends and strategic cooperative partners. We take pride in our friendship with China which is our “iron bother”. This friendship enjoys political, institutional and popular support in Pakistan, he said. He said that strategic cooperative partnership between two countries is moving from strength to strength. It is an anchor for regional peace and stability. We would like to learn from Chinese experience of development, poverty eradication and fight against corruption, the Speaker said. He expressed his pleasure on strong Government to Government contacts between Pakistan and China. However, he stressed upon need to enhance and strengthen institutional linkages between the Parliaments of two brotherly countries. He also said that Pakistan had been making significant progress in CPEC project which would play a huge role in development and prosperity of both Nations. He further informed that all political parties, provincial governments and locals had been taken on board with regard to CPEC projects.

The Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress stated that Pakistan had been doing well on economic fronts and appreciated government’s efforts for combating terrorism quite successfully. He also appreciated Pakistan’s role in maintaining peace and stability in the region. Mr. Chen Zhu stated that there was a need for enhanced socio-economic, political and security cooperation. He shared that more organizations would be interested to invest in Pakistan with advancements in CPEC.

While meeting with his Russian counterpart Mr. Vyacheslav V.Volodin, Asad Qaiser said that Pakistan desires to forge a long-term and multidimensional partnership with Russia, especially in the fields of trade, energy, defence, security, space, peaceful use of nuclear energy, culture, education and people-to-people contacts. It is heartening to see that regular interaction between the parliaments of our two countries is progressing satisfactorily. He expressed his gratitude for the consistent Russian support to Pakistan for full membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) throughout the process. Such support is evident of the close friendship and cooperation between two countries on bilateral and multilateral forums.

The Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Mr. Vyacheslav V.Volodin stressed upon the need to foster people to people contacts and inter-parliamentary linkages through exchange of visits between legislatures of Pakistan and Russia. He also opined to augment trade and economic relations between two countries as there is huge potential for it.