Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain said on Tuesday that the three-day visit of Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi will open new avenues of economic cooperation between the two countries. He said that a large delegation of Iranian business people is also accompanying the distinguished guests, so their visit should be taken full advantage of, and economic cooperation should be increased, which will also help reduce the tension between the two countries.

Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that economic matters in Pakistan have always been neglected, which has caused the country to come close to bankruptcy.

Due to the efforts of the political and military leadership, the country avoided bankruptcy, but the economy could not be declared out of danger.

Even now, Pakistan is trying to get more loans from the IMF and is forced to sell national assets because essential institutions have been run on a political rather than economic basis; therefore, they have become white elephants.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that the Iranian president is visiting Pakistan when its economic condition is weak, and the country could be fined twenty billion dollars for not implementing the gas pipeline agreement.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that elements in the border areas threaten both countries, which has caused tension to become routine in bilateral relations, and both countries continue to make accusations.

Pakistan and Iran should work together to clear the border areas of terrorists and build border markets and border trade. Pakistan can get cheap oil, gas, steel, and dozens of other commodities from Iran, while dozens of different commodities, including foodstuffs, can be exported to Iran.

If the two countries establish special and joint economic zones in the border area, it will employ the people and reduce Pakistan’s import bill.

Mian Zahid Hussain further said that more than a dozen countries included in the American bloc buy oil from Iran, so why is there a ban on Pakistan? The American authorities should be told that the natural gas from Iran is a matter of life and death for Pakistan, and the American obstruction in this regard is damaging its reputation among the Pakistani people and business community.