Islamabad: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi concluded his three-day official visit to Pakistan, during which he visited Islamabad, Karachi, and Lahore.
Pakistan’s Sindh province’s Governor Kamran Tessori, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, and Housing Minister Riaz Hussain Pirzada saw off the Iranian president and his delegation at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport, Radio Pakistan reported.
According to Iran’s news agency IRNA, Raisi left for Sri Lanka’s Colombo on the next leg of his South Asia tour at the invitation of his counterpart Ranil Wickremesinghe. However, Radio Pakistan said that he had left for Iran.
In a statement, the Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) said Raisi “concluded his maiden visit to country”.
It said that during his visit, the “two sides held productive discussions and agreed to advance bilateral cooperation in multiple domains, including in trade, connectivity, energy, and people-to-people contacts”.
High-level Meetings on 1st Day
On Monday, Raisi spent a busy day in Islamabad, where the two sides committed to increasing the trade volume to $10 billion over the next five years.
After his arrival in the country’s capital city Islamabad, he met with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and later addressed a joint press conference, vowing to strengthen relations between both countries at “high levels”.
Later, Raisi also met with Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari where they agreed to reinforce existing ties. In his meeting with Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir, the Iranian president discussed regional stability and border security.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar had called on Raisi as well while Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and his Iranian counterpart Dr. Ahmad Vahidi agreed on both two countries banning terrorist organizations in their respective countries.
Separately, the neighbors signed eight agreements and Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) for cooperation in various fields. Pakistan’s PM Shehbaz and Raisi also inaugurated the newly constructed portion of Islamabad’s 11th Avenue after renaming it Iran Avenue.
Significance of the Visit
Raisi’s visit to Pakistan had been in doubt as Middle East tensions rose after Iran launched an unprecedented missile and drone attack on Israel more than a week ago in retaliation for an airstrike on the Iranian consular building in Syria’s Damascus earlier this month. Then, on Friday, central Iran received what was presumed to be an Israeli attack.
Tehran has played down the apparent Israeli attack and indicated it had no plans for retaliation, a response that appeared gauged towards keeping the conflict in Gaza from expanding to a regionwide conflict.
Raisi’s visit is also significant as Pakistan and Iran seek to mend ties after tit-for-tat missile strikes in January. The cross-border strikes stoked regional tensions already inflamed by Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.
Tehran carried out the strikes against an anti-Iran group in Pakistan the same week it targeted Iraq and Syria. Pakistan responded with a raid on “militant targets” in Sistan-Balochistan province. Both countries have accused each other of sheltering militants in the past.
Pakistan is also counting on a joint gas project with Iran to solve a long-running power crisis that has sapped its economic growth.
A $7.5 billion Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline intended to feed Pakistani power plants was inaugurated with great fanfare in March 2013. However, the project immediately stagnated following international sanctions on Iran.
Tehran has built its own section of the 1,800-kilometer pipeline, which should eventually link its South Pars gas fields to Nawabshah.
In February, the Pakistan’s outgoing caretaker government approved the construction of an 80km section of the pipeline, primarily to avoid the payment of billions of dollars in penalties to Iran due to years of delays.
Washington has warned that Pakistan could face US sanctions, saying it does not support the pipeline going forward.