Top leaders of Pakistan, Iran inaugurate border market in their first meeting in 10 years

By MUNIR AHMED
Associated Press

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Officials say the top leaders of Pakistan and Iran have inaugurated the first border market as relations warm between the two countries. It’s located in the remote village of Pashin in Baluchistan province, the first of six to be constructed along the Pakistan-Iran border under a 2012 agreement signed by the two sides. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi on Thursday also inaugurated an electricity transmission line, which they say will help some of southwestern Pakistan’s remote regions meet their energy needs via electricity imported from Iran. Pakistan has close ties with Sunni Saudi Arabia, but has tried to maintain a diplomatic relationship with Shiite Iran.