In a major development, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is very likely to make an official visit to Pakistan next week, the second by him in three years, during which he will hold talks with the Pakistani leadership on expanding bilateral economic, defence and energy ties.
The upcoming visit of the Iranian leader to Pakistan will be in response to the visits of President Asif Ali Zardari to Tehran in recent months to enhance bilateral ties.
Zardari’s latest visit to Iran was in June this year to participate in the trilateral summit of Iranian, Afghan and Pakistani presidents. In the summit, the three neighbours decided to expand and strengthen cooperation for regional peace, stability and development.
The next trilateral meeting was supposed to be held in Islamabad this time around, but owing to the prevailing tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan the meeting has been delayed.
“It will be, hence, a bilateral visit of the Iranian president to Islamabad during which he would deliberate not only on the expansion of bilateral ties in the sectors of defence and economy, but also discuss the regional and global situation with Pakistani leaders with a focus on Afghanistan and the current row between Islamabad and Washington,” said a diplomatic source here on Tuesday while requesting anonymity.
The Iranian president’s last visit to Pakistan was a brief one, when he made a stopover in Islamabad on his way to Sri Lanka in April 2008.
General (r) Pervez Musharraf was the Pakistani president then and during the meeting between him and Ahmadinejad, the two countries agreed to move ahead with the $ 7.5 billion Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project despite opposition from the United States.
Pakistan has been silently mediating between Iran and Saudi Arabia for a while and reportedly Zardari has been spearheading the Pakistani efforts. Recently he made important visits to Iran and Saudi Arabia for this purpose.
“The relations between Tehran and Riyadh as well as Islamabad’s efforts as mediator for the improvement in ties between the two important Muslim countries would also be discussed during talks between President Ahmadinejad and the Pakistani leaders,” the source said.
