( RIA Novosti ) - The president of Iran will set off on a foreign tour Tuesday, visiting Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan, Iranian media reported Monday.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will first visit Afghanistan where he will have negotiations with his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai, to discuss current international issues, the situation in the region and bilateral relations. It will be Ahmadinejad's first visit to Afghanistan since his election win in the summer of 2005.
Tuesday afternoon, the Afghan president will arrive in Ashgabat where he will have talks with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov. A number of bilateral trade and economic agreements are expected to be signed.
Ahmadinejad's final destination will be Kyrgyzstan, where he will participate in the seventh session of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). On August 16, ten heads of state will meet in Bishkek, including the presidents of Kazakhstan, China, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Pakistan's foreign minister and India's oil and gas minister will attend along with Mongolia and Iran which have SCO observer status.
The president of Iran will address the SCO meeting and meet with a number of SCO heads of state.
Iran has been at the center of international concerns over its nuclear program, which some countries, particularly the United States, suspect is geared toward nuclear weapons development. Tehran has consistently denied the claims, saying it needs nuclear power for civilian purposes.
Iran has come under pressure for rejecting three consecutive UN resolutions against its nuclear program since last year. The six countries negotiating the dispute - the UN Security Council permanent members plus Germany - have demanded that Tehran suspend all uranium enrichment before negotiating a solution to the nuclear program.
Iran insists that it needs nuclear power purely to generate electricity. Ahmadinejad announced early April the start of uranium enrichment on an industrial level.