Ahmadinejad to visit Islamabad for a few hours

Source: AFP, 25-04-2008
ISLAMABAD: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will make a brief visit to Pakistan next week to meet the neighboring country's new government, the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad said on Thursday. Ahmadinejad will fly to Pakistan on Monday for a few hours as part of a whistle-stop tour of South Asian nations, which will also include India and Sri Lanka. "It is a brief visit, essentially it is a stopover for a few hours," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadiq told reporters at a weekly briefing. "Essentially he will be meeting the Pakistan leadership and discussing matters of bilateral interests, bilateral relations including political relations and economic relations," he added. A new government led by the parties of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and former Premier Nawaz Sharif took power last month after trouncing allies of President Pervez Musharraf in elections in February. Iran, Pakistan and India are all in talks to build a multi-billion dollar project to transport Iranian gas across the subcontinent. Talks on the much-delayed project began in 1994 but were stalled by Indian-Pakistani tensions. India this week told Washington to mind its own business after a US official said New Delhi should urge Iran to curtail its nuclear program when Ahmadinejad visits on Tuesday.