Honardost met with Siddiqui on Tuesday, with the focus of the discussion being the development of cultural, economic, scientific, and people-to-people relations, as well as the proposal to produce a joint film on Allama Muhammad Iqbal Lahori, a Pakistani Persian-speaking poet.
Reflecting on the commonalities between the two countries, he said the deep historical, cultural, and religious bonds could be a solid foundation for boosting cooperation in the fields of energy, transportation, trade, investment, tourism, agriculture, and technology by attracting entrepreneurs and traders, as well as holding specialized exhibitions and conferences.
The two sides also concluded that sustainable security will be achieved given Iranian and Pakistani nations recognize each other not merely as neighbors, but as strategic partners and true friends by adopting an approach based on trust, cooperation, and convergence.
A significant part of the meeting was dedicated to the cultural commonalities, with renewed poets and literary figures of medieval and modern periods such as Hafez, Saadi, Rumi, Ferdowsi, Khayyam, Nizami Ganjavi, Iqbal Lahori, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Ahmad Faraz, and Parveen Shakir being common assets.
Apart from producing a feature film and documentary on the life, personality, thoughts, and works of Iqbal Lahori, proposals for holding Iran-Pakistan cultural weeks, Persian and Urdu poetry festivals, literary conferences, art exhibitions, teacher and student exchange programs were discussed as well.
The Pakistani Ambassador, while welcoming the suggestions, expressed gratitude for the activities of the Iran-Pakistan Friendship Association toward strengthening relations between the two nations and emphasized the full readiness of the embassy to support joint cultural, scientific, economic, and social programs.
IRNA