Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad made the remarks during a meeting with Pakistan’s Interior Minister Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi. The two sides discussed areas of mutual interest in the energy sector and agreed to form expert-level working groups to pursue and finalize the issues raised during the talks.

Paknejad highlighted the two countries’ long land border as a key advantage for expanding energy trade. He said the framework and groundwork for cooperation in this area had previously been discussed by the two sides.

Under the agreement, Iranian expert teams will travel to Islamabad and Pakistani teams will visit Tehran to continue the discussions, Paknejad said.

He noted that Pakistan needs petroleum products and that Iran has the capacity to export some of those products. “Wherever we have export capacity, we will meet their needs,” he said.

Paknejad added that the two countries could also capitalize on their geographic and territorial advantages to expand energy cooperation.

Regarding gas cooperation, he said the two countries had previously discussed a pipeline project to export Iranian natural gas to Pakistan. The ministers reviewed the broader aspects of the proposal and agreed that expert groups should conduct more detailed technical discussions.