Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani returned to Pakistan on Wednesday after completing his visit to Iran. During his visit, he had held talks with the Iranian leadership, including President Ahmadinejad, to further strengthen the bilateral ties and cooperation in diverse fields. The PM also discussed the completion of gas pipeline project and provision of power to Pakistan. He also visited his ancestral Gilan province as well as Mashhad, where he visited the shrine of Imam Raza and offered prayers. He called his visit to Iran ‘positive’, IRNA reported.
Gilani, in a meeting with the province Governor General Mahmoud Salahi, said the meetings with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi and a number of cabinet ministers were successful. He called for developing economic and trade cooperation, especially with the province, adding that Pakistan wanted to learn from the experience of the Khorasan Razavi Province. Salahi said cooperation would be extended to Pakistan in agriculture, infrastructure and other fields. SPECIAL PRAYERS: In another development, the PM offered a special prayer for the flood and dengue victims in the country after the Zuhr prayers that were offered in the PM House.
He was accompanied by Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain, Minister for Railways Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Minister for SAFRON Engineer Shaukatullah and leader of Balochistan National Party (Awami) Senator Israrullah Zehri. Special prayers were offered in the mosques across the country on the appeal of President Asif Ali Zardari urging people to pray for those hit by the wrath of natural calamities.