ISLAMABAD, March 24: President Gen Pervez Musharraf will visit Saudi Arabia next week to attend the 19th Arab League summit as a special guest at the invitation of Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz. The summit will be held in Riyadh on March 28-29 and the president will leave a day before it opens.

Announcing the president’s visit, a Foreign Office statement issued here on Saturday said: “Pakistan hopes that the deliberations at the Arab League summit would help de-escalate tensions in the region and pave the way for early resolution of conflicts and disputes in the region, specifically the Palestinian dispute.”

Noting that Pakistan had always supported Arab League initiatives on Palestine and other issues of the region, the statement added: “Pakistan has also been emphasising the need to evolve a joint strategy for reduction of tension in the region and for promoting solidarity and harmony in the Muslim world.”

The Arab League summit is expected to focus on a broad spectrum of issues of concern to the Middle East region. The summit acquires special significance as it would determine the fate of President Musharraf’s Middle East peace initiative as well as the Makkah Summit that Saudi Arabia offered to host in this context. Notably, it is for the first time that a Pakistani leader has been invited to the Arab League summit as a participant, a move observers believe could be linked to a likely announcement signaling some progress in President Musharraf’s recently launched Middle East peace initiative.

The president has been underscoring the need for a new Middle East peace initiative to end conflict and violence in the region, particularly in Palestinian territories, Iraq and Lebanon and to address the challenges confronting the Muslim world, including extremism and terrorism.

In a bid to evolve a common strategy aimed at a just settlement of the Palestinian issue, addressing the deteriorating situation in the region and promoting harmony among the Muslim nations he visited nine key Arab and non-Arab Muslim countries for consultations between January and February. These included Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, UAE, Malaysia, Indonesia, Iran and Iran.

During his stay in Riyadh, the president is also expected to hold bilateral consultations with leaders participating in the summit.

Meanwhile, in a related development Dr Bassem Awadallah, former foreign minister of Jordan and presently Adviser to King Abdullah-II of Jordan made a short trip here as the king’s special envoy.—Q.A.