JEDDAH, 4 December 2005 — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will arrive here on Tuesday on his first official visit to a foreign country since taking power in Tehran last August, Iranian diplomatic sources said.
The sources said the president would hold talks with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah on major Islamic and regional issues including Iraq and Palestine as well as the fight on terrorism.
“This is President Ahmadinejad’s first official visit outside the country. Previously, he attended the UN General Assembly meeting but did not hold any talks with US officials while he was in New York,” an Iranian diplomat told Arab News.
He said the Iranian president would be accompanied by a high-level delegation including Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi as well as top Foreign Ministry officials and senior presidential advisers.
He said the Saudi-Iranian talks would explore prospects of expanding cooperation between the two Islamic countries in political, commercial, economic and other sectors. He underscored the strong relations between the two countries.
Ahmadinejad will also attend the extraordinary Islamic summit, which opens in Makkah on Wednesday, the source said. Iranian Foreign Minister Mottaki will attend the foreign ministers meeting on Tuesday to prepare the summit agenda.
OIC spokesman Atta Al-Mannan Habeeb said heads of state from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Maldives, Senegal and Sudan had confirmed their participation. King Abdullah called the summit following last year’s Haj to review the current state of the Ummah and to explore strategies that would enable the Muslim world to face the challenges of the 21st century.
According to OIC sources, King Abdullah will open the summit at 10 a.m. with a keynote address outlining his visions to improve the present condition of the Ummah.
