Iranian FM Hossein Amir-Abdollahian arrives

ISLAMABAD: Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian arrived here on Wednesday on an official on the invitation of Minister for Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari

Announcing the visit, the Foreign Office said that Amir-Abdollahian will hold talks with Bilawal. The wide-ranging agenda includes discussion on all aspects of bilateral relations and the emerging regional situation.

Foreign Minister Abdollahian will call on the prime minister of Pakistan for an exchange of views on the consensus between the leadership of the two countries for taking this relationship forward.

He will also call on Speaker National Assembly and Chairman Senate where the two sides will discuss parliamentary linkages between the two brotherly countries.

Earlier, a high-ranking delegation comprising the Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs and senior officials from the ministries of trade, roads and urban development, investment, agriculture, energy etc, preceded the foreign minister for preparatory meetings.

Foreign Minister Abdollahian’s visit will be an opportunity for the two sides to discuss the entire range of bilateral ties with particular focus on regional connectivity, energy and economic and investment ties between Pakistan and Iran.

Bilawal had earlier in May extended the invitation in a meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.

In June, Foreign Secretary Asad Majeed Khan, once again renewed the invitation on behalf of Minister Bilawal in his meeting with the Iranian Foreign Minister.

“Since it is the Foreign Minister to Foreign Minister level talks, all aspects of bilateral relations are on the agenda,“ diplomatic sources told The News.

Iran’s reach out comes just days before the present government in Islamabad leaves and a caretaker government replaces it.

The recent rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia has also helped and gone a long way to help Iran’s bilateral ties with Islamabad. Commenting on relations with Pakistan , Amir Abdollahian in his meeting with Pakistan’ s Foreign Secretary, highlighted the history of Iran-Pakistan ties and the commonalities between the two countries, describing the current level of ties as good and forward-moving and calling for the two countries to benefit from all the capacities existing in mutual relations.

He referred to the special position of Pakistan in Iran’s foreign policy and the current level of bilateral and international cooperation, adding, “The Islamic Republic of Iran sees no limit to the development of relations with Pakistan.”

For his part, the Pakistani foreign secretary relayed the greetings of his country’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to his Iranian counterpart, presenting a report of the discussions raised during the 12th round of political consultative talks.

He described those talks as strategic for expanding the relations between the two countries. The senior official said Pakistan attaches importance to the promotion of ties with Iran.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian arrives after a high profile visit by Army Chief General Asim Munir to Tehran recently on the invitation of Major General Mohammad Bagheri.

The ISPR commenting on the military commanders meeting had said that both sides vowed to eradicate the menace of terrorism in the border areas through intelligence sharing and effective actions against the terrorists’ networks, and explore avenues for enhancing cooperation in the security domain.

Afghanistan, and the recent terrorist attacks carried out by terrorists based inside Afghanistan are bound to be raised in the Foreign Minister level talks today. As neighbours, Islamabad says that it has been closely coordinating with Iran and that sustained engagement between international community and the interim Afghan government was critical to advance shared objectives of peace and stability in Afghanistan.

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in his earlier meeting with Hossein Amir-Abdollahian reaffirmed Pakistan’s desire to strengthen Pak-Iran fraternal ties in all areas of mutual interest. He emphasised that there existed vast scope in bilateral trade and economic cooperation which should be tapped by both sides through various institutional mechanisms and innovative ways to identify new sectors.

“The Foreign Minister underscored the importance of earliest completion of border markets to improve livelihood in the border region.The Foreign Minister appreciated Iran’s steadfast support for the Kashmir cause, especially at the Supreme Leader level”, the Foreign Office had stated.