ISLAMABAD, Dec 25: Iranian foreign minister Kamal Kharazai who is due here on Monday on a two-day official visit will hold talks with President Gen Pervez Musharraf , Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri on important matters, including the gas pipeline project.

Mr Kharazai, who last visited Pakistan in August 2003, will be accompanied by deputy foreign minister for economic affairs.

His visit coincides with the Indo-Pakistan secretary level talks.

Sources said the Iranian foreign minister is also expected to convey a special message to the Pakistani leadership on behalf of President Seyed Muhammad Khatami.

Mr Kharazai is also likely to share with the Pakistani leadership Iran's perspective on the nuclear issue and brief his Pakistani interlocutors on Iran's negotiations with the EU countries on its standoff with the IAEA.

Iran has been under tremendous pressure from the US over its nuclear programme and has been accused by Washington of meddling in Iraqi affairs.

Iran rejects this allegation.

Mr Kharazai will hold formal delegation-level talks with Mr Kasuri at the Foreign Office on Monday. During the talks both sides will review bilateral relations and exchange views on regional and global developments.

In view of the latest developments the trans-Pakistan gas pipeline to India will also be discussed as also the possibility of other joint infrastructure ventures, the sources said, adding that the primary focus would be strengthening bilateral relations, particularly in the economic field.

On the regional front the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan will dominate discussions as leadership in both Iran and Pakistan have deep interest in the stability and reconstruction of both the war-torn countries.

The Iranian foreign minister's visit is seen as continuation of high-level exchanges between the two countries following President Khatami's visit to Pakistan in December 2002. Former Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali visited Iran twice, first in October 2003 and then in 2004.

Pakistan's foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri visited Iran in August this year. He also met his Iranian counterpart on the sidelines of the ECO Summit in Dushanbe in September. First vice President of Iran Mohammad Raza visited Pakistan in March 2004.-Q.A.