Ties with Pakistan ‘strategic’: President Rouhani

President Hassan Rouhani says Iran’s relations with Pakistan are strategic as he leaves Tehran for Islamabad on a landmark two-day visit.

According to Press TV, the visit, taking place after the lifting of sanctions on Iran following a nuclear agreement, is expected to further strengthen bilateral relations between the two counties.

“Pakistan, with its great people and religious, historic, cultural commonalities, is important to the Islamic Republic of Iran,” President Rouhani told reporters at Mehrabad Airport on Friday.

The visit is part of regular high-level exchanges between the two countries, the Foreign Ministry of Pakistan said in a statement.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, accompanied by a high-level delegation, visited Tehran on January 19.

President Rouhani is expected to hold meetings with Sharif, President Mamnoon Hussain and Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif among others in the visit, Pakistani media said.

The two sides are also expected to discuss resuming work on a stalled Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, a project designed to help Pakistan meet its energy needs.

SS