Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited Iran in May 2014 and in January this year to try to ease tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
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According to local media reports, Foreign Office (FO) said in a release that the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran will visit Pakistan from 25-26 March 2016.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will discuss bilateral military and economic cooperation with the leadership of Pakistan in Islamabad. But in recent years, Pakistan has worked to improve ties with Iran, in part to foster domestic stability.
The comprehensive nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), terminated all nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran.
Discussions are also expected on a gas pipeline to connect Iran and Pakistan. Pakistani officials, however, blame economic sanctions against Iran for preventing work on their side, although they now vow to begin construction soon.
The Iranian President is accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising Ministers, senior officials and businessmen.
Pakistan, which has traditionally had close relations with the US and Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia, enforced United Nations-backed economic sanctions created to deter the nuclear program of largely Shiite Iran. Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran in early January after protesters burned Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran. Saudi Arabia gave Pakistan$1.5 billion in 2013, shoring up desperately low foreign- exchange reserves.
Pakistan provoked anger from Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf countries when it refused past year to join a Sunni coalition fighting in Yemen against forces Iran supports politically.
“Iranians are on a course of active economic diplomacy”, said Hasan-Askari Rizvi, a Lahore-based defense analyst. Islamabad has said it got a positive response from both sides. During his stay in Islamabad, he will hold meetings with President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz.
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“It is the immediate need of the people of Pakistan and the subcontinent to have access to the rich oil and gas resources of Iran”, he said.
