ISLAMABAD: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari arrived in Bahrain late Tuesday on a four-day visit to enhance bilateral cooperation in trade, defense and security, Pakistani state media reported.

Pakistan and Bahrain have maintained close diplomatic, trade, investment and defense relations and have lately been focusing on strengthening their cooperation in key economic sectors.

The Pakistan president’s visit will be focused on bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest for both nations, according to the foreign office in Islamabad.

He will hold talks with King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa and Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad, and address a reception held at the headquarters of the Economic Development Board in Manama.

“The visit seeks to reinforce Pakistan’s longstanding cooperation with the brotherly Gulf nation while expanding opportunities for collaboration in trade and economic partnership, defense and security and people-to-people ties,” the Radio Pakistan broadcaster said.

Islamabad and Manama established diplomatic ties in 1971. In recent years, the bilateral trade volume between the two countries has ranged between $500 million to around $1 billion, according to Pakistan’s foreign ministry.

Major exports from Pakistan to Bahrain include meat, vegetables, rice, tobacco and textile. Imports from Bahrain, on the other hand, include petroleum products, ferrous wastes and scrape and aluminum.

Both have established a Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) at the level of foreign ministers to discuss trade and economic ties, take decisions mutually and supervise the implementation of these decisions. So far, only two sessions of the JMC have been held and the last one was held in Bahrain in July 2021.

Zardari’s visit takes place amid increasing economic engagement between the two nations following the Pakistan-Bahrain Investment Summit in May 2025. Both sides signed contracts worth $13 million during the summit.