ISLAMABAD:
Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian is set to visit Pakistan on Saturday at the invitation of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on a trip being seen as crucial after the recent Iran-Israel war and other regional developments.
According to officials, the Iranian President would land at Lahore on Saturday and first visit the Mausoleum of Poet Dr Muhammad Allama Iqbal. He would then travel to Islamabad where he would be having a series of meetings with Pakistan’s civil and military leaders including the President, Prime Minister and the Army Chief.
The Iranian media reported that Pezeshkian’s agenda includes high-level meetings and dialogues with cultural and business leaders. Discussions are expected to focus on strengthening bilateral relations, which span political, economic, religious, and cultural dimensions.
A key objective of the visit is to expand cross-border and provincial cooperation, with hopes of increasing current trade volumes beyond the existing $3 billion.
But the focus would be on the current regional developments including Iran-Israel conflict, tensions in South Asia and deteriorating situation in Gaza.
Prime Minister Shehbaz along with the Army Chief travelled to Tehran after the Pakistan-India conflict in May to thank Iran for extending support to Pakistan.
Iran was among the countries trying to broker a ceasefire between the two nuclear armed neighbors. The Iranian Foreign Minister travelled to both New Delhi and Islamabad to prevent the situation from further escalation. The Iranian President subsequently spoke to both the Pakistani and Indian leaders as part of mediation efforts.
But a few weeks later, when Iran was facing a barrage of missiles, drones and other attacks from Israel, Pakistan expressed complete solidarity with Tehran.
Pakistan not only condemned the Israel strikes on Iran but as a non-permanent member of the UNSC played an important role in favour of Iran.
