Michael Kugelman
The highlights this week: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visits Pakistan and Sri Lanka, India’s national election enters its third week with a couple new developments, and the International Monetary Fund approves a final tranche of funding for Pakistan.
Iran’s South Asia Diplomacy
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi spent much of last week in South Asia. He visited Pakistan from Monday through Wednesday before traveling on to Sri Lanka for a one-day trip—the first to the country by an Iranian leader since 2008.
Both visits were important to the host countries. Pakistan and Sri Lanka have each faced some of the region’s worst economic stress in recent years, and each hopes to benefit from cooperation with Iran. Security was also a critical agenda point for Islamabad, which is keen to work with Iran on their shared border, where the two countries exchanged cross-border strikes in January.
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