President Zardari to visit Bahrain from Jan 13 to 16

President Asif Ali Zardari is scheduled to pay an official visit to Bahrain from January 13 to 16, the Foreign Office (FO) said on Monday.

According to the FO, the president will be accompanied by a high-level delegation during the visit. He is expected to hold meetings with Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who also serves as the prime minister.

The Foreign Office said discussions will focus on bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest. The visit aims to strengthen Pakistan’s longstanding relations with Bahrain and explore avenues for enhanced cooperation in trade and economic partnership, defence and security, and people-to-people exchanges.

Pakistan and Bahrain have maintained close diplomatic and economic ties, with recent engagements highlighting efforts to expand cooperation across multiple sectors.

In November last year, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited Bahrain, where he reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to deepening relations with the kingdom. During the visit, the prime minister stressed the importance of increasing trade and investment and noted that bilateral trade was expected to grow following the Pakistan-GCC Free Trade Agreement.

Earlier, in September, Bahrain’s interior minister visited Pakistan. During that visit, the two sides agreed to enhance cooperation in areas including counter-terrorism, anti-narcotics and immigration.