Iran and Pakistan have established a taskforce to promote cooperation in border security and the exchange of prisoners.

Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi arrived in Islamabad for a one-day visit at the head of a nine-member delegation Monday and was welcomed by Pakistani counterpart Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad at the Noor Khan airbase, Rawalpindi.

Vahidi also met with Prime Minister Imran Khan, army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, and Interior Ministry Secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar. Vahidi and Khan reportedly backed the construction of border markets and improved transport infrastructure – including roads and rail – to boost trade.

Vahid’s meeting with Bajwa, the army chief, and Pakistani security officials was joined by Iranian ambassador Mohammad Ali Hosseini, General Ahmad Ali Goudarzi, commander of the Iranian Border Guards.

Tehran and Islamabad last October agreed to arrangements for exchanging prisoners, apparently to allow repatriation of those serving sentences abroad. But the high-level attendees at the meetings may reflect concern over the Iran-Pakistan border sitting on growing human and drug trafficking out of Afghanistan.

Co-operation between the two sides has been stymied by Iran’s suspicion that Pakistan, either deliberately or though neglect, has served as a refuge for Baluchi groups that have carried out violent attacks inside Iran and by Tehran’s suspicion of Pakistan’s relationship with militant Sunni factions including the Taliban in Afghanistan. Vahidi's visit took place a week after Saudi Interior Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Nayef visited Pakistan.