Iran President Rowhani arrives Friday on two-day visit

Dr Rowhani will meet President Mamnoon, Prime Minister Nawaz

ISLAMABAD: Iran’s President Dr Hassan Rowhani is arriving on Friday on a two-day visit to Pakistan, the Foreign Office announced on Wednesday.

“At the invitation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the Iranian president will visit Pakistan from March 25 to 26,” the FO statement said.

This will be Rowhani’s first visit to Pakistan as the president of Iran, the statement added. The Iranian president will be accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising ministers, senior officials and businessmen.

FO spokesperson Nafees Zakria said during his stay in Islamabad, the president of Iran will hold meetings with his Pakistan counterpart Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

“The leadership will have an exchange of views on strengthening bilateral relations, particularly after the lifting of sanctions on Iran that has opened new avenues for enhancing economic interaction,” Nafees said. He added that cooperation on regional and international issues of mutual concern will also be discussed.

“Relations between the two countries are rooted in a long history of mutual trust, based on cultural, linguistic and religious bonds,” the spokesperson remarked. He said the visit of Rowhani will further deepen the existing fraternal ties between the two countries.

The visit comes days after Prime Minister Nawaz and army chief General Raheel Sharif toured Saudi Arabia to witness the multi-national military exercises, the largest ever staged in the region.

Although Pakistan joined the Saudi-led 34-nation counter-terrorism alliance, it is trying to ensure that its move does not affect its ties with Iran. Countries including Iran, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan are not part of the Saudi initiative.

Officials in Islamabad said the Pakistani leadership will take the Iranian president into confidence about its decision to join the Saudi alliance. Islamabad has maintained that it joined the alliance because it was meant to counter terrorism.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 24^th, 2016.