NWFP government has reached an understanding with Iran's north-western province of Qazvin for promotion of agriculture, industries, culture and tourism sectors through bilateral co-operation. In this connection, Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani is likely to soon pay a visit to Qazvin province of Iran on invitation from the Governor of the province concerned.
The chief minister directed the relevant department to carry out their tasks for making necessary provisions in this regard. He said that soon a meeting in this regard would be called to prepare agenda for the upcoming visit. The Peshawar based Consul-General of Iran, Mohammad Igbal Ali Asghari, also held a meeting with the Chief Minister in Frontier House in this regard.
On this occasion, Akram said that the people of Iran and Pakistan enjoy friendly relations. The two Muslims countries are tied in bonds of historical, religious and cultural relations. "The further strengthening of these bonds is need of the hour," he said.
He said that NWFP offers enormous investment opportunities due to its immeasurable natural resources and was hopeful that Iranians would get advantage from it to further help build the brotherly relations. He said that future prospects would be outstanding in view of industrial environment of this part of the world.
The Consul-General, highlighting the historical and cultural importance of Qazvin, gave an invitation offer to the Chief Minister on behalf of Qazvin's Governor so that he could examine the growth rate in the fields of agriculture, industry, culture and other sectors.
He said that during last few decades, Qazvin has become a developing pole of Iran due to its preferable location. Qazvin today is a centre of textile and leather trade, he said.
Qazvin, he said, has one of the largest power plants feeding electricity into Iran's power grid providing 7 percent of the country's electricity. Furthermore, he said, agriculturally Qazvin covers 12 percent of the cultivable lands of Iran, producing grape, almond, apple, wheat, sugar beet, fig and cereals. Animal husbandry, aquatic and poultry breeding are also developed on modern lines. Ali Asghari also highlighted the development of Qazvin in area of heavy industries.
The Chief Minister accepted the invitation with gratitude and expressed hope that his visit to Iran would be a landmark in connection with the promotion and development of the sectors concerned and people of the Frontier province.
The Consul General of Iran articulated his good wishes for the people of Pakistan and expressed hope that the visit would bring both nations closer to each other.