June 03, 2008	Tuesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 28, 1429

TAXILA, June 2: Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan Mashallah Shakri has said his resource rich country can help Pakistan address its energy crisis in the long run.

Talking to this correspondent here, he said Tehran can initiate ventures with Pakistan other than the IPI (Iran-Pakistan-India) gas project to help Islamabad overcome its power crisis.

He said there were many fields of mutual interest especially in the culture, energy, shipping and trade sectors in which both the countries can expand relations. He said Pakistan had good manpower for shipping industry while Iran possessed good fleet and if the two countries formed a joint shipping company it would help enhance trading in the shipping sector.

He said by expanding rail network, Pakistan could export its fruits, especially orange and mangoes, to Turkey via Iraq.

He said Pakistan produced two million tons of good quality kinnos that could be exported through rail network to Iran and Turkey.

Responding a question, he said both Pakistan and Iran were bounded in centuries-old relations due to similarities in their cultural, religious and social traditions.

He said with expansion of economic, trade and tourists activities these relations could be further expanded and strengthened.