Manmohan Singh arrives in Tehran for NAM summit

, Aug 28: Prime Minister

arrived here on Tuesday to attend the 16th

summit on a visit that will also see him holding bilateral talks with the top Iranian leadership and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. On his arrival here, Singh was received by

's Minister of Finance, Shamseddin Hosseini. The visit is the first in a decade to Iran by an Indian Prime Minister after Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited the country in 2001.

On the sidelines of the summit of 120 non-aligned nations, Singh will also hold meetings with the Iranian leadership, including Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and will review bilateral relations. Singh's bilateral meetings with Khamenei and Ahmadinejad assume significance as they will take place at a time when the US is pushing India to reduce engagement with Iran and implement sanctions imposed by some countries over its controversial nuclear programme. He will also hold meetings with Zardari and Egypt's first civilian President, Mohammed Mursi.

PTI