FNA - Pakistan's new Ambassador to Tehran Rafat Masoud underlined the need for the further expansion of all-out ties and cooperation with Iran, saying that dollar should be replaced with other currencies in trade exchanges between the two countries.

"A number of Pakistani banks fear exchanges (with Iran due to the US sanctions) and therefore, we should be after omitting dollar and replacing it with another currency," Masoud said in a meeting with the governor-general of Iran's Sistan and Balouchestan province in Zahedan on Saturday.

She also stressed the need for the establishment of security at the common borders and mutual cooperation to this end.

Masoud added that relations between Tehran and Islamabad are in the best conditions after the Islamic Revolution in Iran, noting that this opportunity should be used to further broaden ties in economic, trade and cultural fields.

In a relevant development in 2016, Iran and Pakistan signed an agreement to re-establish banking relationship and carry out trade transactions in local currencies.

Pakistan’s Federal Minister of Commerce Khurram Dastgir Khan supervised the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Iran’s Ambassador Mehdi Honardoost in Islamabad.

“The two sides agreed in principle to open bank accounts in their respective central banks for trade transactions in their local currencies,” a Pakistani official said at the time.

They also agreed to take further steps toward promoting trade and investment ties and materialize a free trade agreement which the two countries have been considering for some time.