President Mohammad Khatami is in Pakistan on an official visit. It is the first visit of an Iranian president to Islamabad in ten years.

Regionalism and regional cooperation has been one of the outstanding features of the post Cold War era, but unfortunately regional differences have been more prominent than cooperation in our region. In other words, the outstanding feature of our region and adjacent regions in the post-Cold War era has been confrontation not cooperation.

As a result of political differences, economic cooperation at the regional level has been kept in limbo and, consequently, despite enjoying almost all the necessary resources, we have failed to forge dynamic regional cooperation.

A clear example of the negative effect of political disputes on economic cooperation is the Iran-India gas pipeline that is to pass through Pakistani territory. It is a multibillion-dollar project whose construction and operation will create a number of job opportunities in the region and will also foster regional cooperation, facilitating regional development. But the project has not seen the light of day merely because of political differences between India and Pakistan. Touching on the issue, Khatami announced at a press conference on Tuesday that Iran supports a peaceful solution to the long-term crisis: "We will do everything possible to remove tensions and to work for peace and understanding between the two sides

[India and Pakistan]." Khatami is really a messenger of peace. At the same press conference he said, "Of course we are against any kind of brutalities, and atrocities, in any part of the world..."

With this vision for Iran and the world we see no problem in Iran's relations with other countries, particularly Pakistan, that cannot be solved through peaceful negotiations.