Imran to visit Iran, China next week

islamabad — Prime Minister Imran Khan will pay his first official visit to Iran from April 21 to 22 at the invitation of Iran President Hassan Rouhani.

This was stated by Foreign Office spokesperson Dr Mohammed Faisal at his weekly Press conference on Thursday.

“The visit will include a brief stop-over in Mashhad before arriving in Tehran for bilateral talks with the Iranian leadership. The prime minister will also call on Iran’s supreme leader Syed Ali Khamenei, besides holding detailed consultations with President Rouhani,” he added.

The spokesperson said that Prime Minister Khan will also visit China this month from April 25 to 28, at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend the 2nd Belt and Road Forum in Beijing.

The spokesman said Pakistan believed intra-Afghan dialogue can play a key role in making the Afghan peace process result-oriented as it was important for all stakeholders to play their roles.

Faisal said Pakistan had been playing a facilitating role in the Afghan peace process but has not been part of the last round of dialogue between the United States and the Taleban in Doha.

“There was no such thing as the ‘Doha Process’. The ongoing talks between the US and the Taleban are a positive development and Pakistan hopes it will lead to durable peace and stability in Afghanistan,” the spokesman added.

Dr Faisal said that Pakistan-India talks on the Kartarpur corridor covered technical-level discussions over its opertionalisation designs for hydrology, including passage of floodwater.

Responding to a question, he said authorities were investigating the Quetta blast and any involvement of external elements would be shared with the public.

The spokesman said Pakistan had taken measures to come out of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list.

Replying to a question about reports that Chinese nationals were allegedly involved in trafficking of Pakistani women to China, Faisal said that authorities concerned investigated the matter and found it to be a mere propaganda to sabotage the longstanding Pakistan-China relations. —