Pakistan lifts sanctions against Iran

Pakistan on Friday decided to lift sanctions against Iran and devise a strategy to promote trade ties with the oil rich country, a ministerial meeting decided here, Dawn reported.

According to a notification issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Islamabad will revive all economic and commercial relations with Tehran, including in trade, investment, technology, banking, finance and energy.

All the previous notifications giving effect to sanctions imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council stand repealed with the issuance of this new notification by the foreign ministry, in keeping with the Security Council resolution 2231.

The meeting chaired by Minister of Finance Ishaq Dar ruled that Pakistan welcomed the Joint Comprehensive Programme of Action (JCPOA) agreed between Iran and world powers and it appreciates the steps taken by Iran for the implementation of the JCPOA.

With the lifting of restrictions, economic and trade relations between the two neighbourly countries will receive a new boost.

It will enable the two countries to fully reinvigorate various bilateral and multilateral arrangements for promoting investments and cooperation across all sectors including banking, finance, industry and energy.

Diplomatic efforts to reach a comprehensive, long-term and proper solution to the Iranian nuclear issue culminated in the JCPOA on July 14, 2015 by China, France, Germany, Russian, Britain, the US, the High Representative of the European Union and Iran.