Islamabad  -  Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived Monday in the capital Islamabad for talks, including plans to lay a pipeline to supply gas to India and Pakistan.

In his four-hour stopover in Islamabad en route to Sri Lanka, Ahmadinejad will be meeting his Pakistani counterpart President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.

The Iranian president was received by Pakistan's minister for water and power, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, and other officials at the Chaklala air base close to Islamabad.

On Friday, Islamabad and New Delhi agreed upon the fundamental principles governing the nearly 7.5-billion-dollar Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project, work on which is expected to be started in 2009.

However, authorities from both sides said an accord would be signed after their respective governments formally approved the project.

The approximately 2,000-kilometre-long pipeline will carry 2.46 billion cubic feet of gas from Iran's South Pars field to Pakistan and India.

Ahmadinejad was also expected to discuss the regional security situation and other bilateral issues in his meetings with the Pakistani leadership. (dpa)