President Asif Ali Zardari will undertake an official visit to Bahrain from January 13-16, the Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement on Monday.

According to the FO, the president will be accompanied by a “high-level delegation”.

It said that during the visit, the president will hold meeting with Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, and Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who is also the prime minister.

“The discussions will focus on bilateral, regional, and international issues of mutual interest,” the FO said.

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

Last year in November, Prime Mini­ster Shehbaz Sharif, during a two-day visit to Bahrain, had reiterated Pakis­tan’s commitment to deepening ties with the kingdom.

Discussing economic relations, the prime minister had unde­r­lined Pakistan’s desire to expand trade and investment and said bilateral trade was set to grow with the Pak­istan-GCC Free Trade Agree­ment.

Earlier in September, Bahrain’s interior minister had visited Pakistan, with the two countries agreeing to enhance cooperation in the fields of counter-terrorism, anti-narcotics, and immigration.