Filephoto of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. (Photo: Xinhua/AFP)

    BEIJING, May 10 (Xinhuanet)-- Indonesia greeted Iran's outspoken President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with a 21-gun salute on Wednesday as he started a state visit against the backdrop of controversy over Tehran's  nuclear policies.

    Iran is under pressure to rein in a nuclear program it says is for peaceful purposes but some Western countries fear is really aimed at developing weapons.

    The United States is pushing for UN action on the issue. U.S. President George W. Bush received an 18-page letter from Ahmadinejad on Monday, the first publicly announced personal communication from an Iranian president to his U.S. counterpart since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

    Washington has shrugged it off as a move to divert attention from the nuclear issue, but analysts said it might buy Tehran more time to pursue its programme and improve its standing as a regional leader.

    Ahmadinejad's visit "will be the first opportunity for us to hear directly about Iran's response to the solutions that have been proposed by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council," Media Indonesia newspaper reported Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda as saying.

    Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was expected to ask Ahmadinejad to ease the escalating diplomatic fight with Washington.

    The prime purpose of Ahmadinejad's visit is not the nuclear issue but development of economic ties between Iran and Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation, officials of the countries claimed.

    Iran is in the process of investing several billion dollars in the oil and gas sector of fellow Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) member Indonesia and both countries are eager to boost trade.  

    On Friday, Ahmadinejad is due to fly to Bali for a meeting of the Developing Eight group that also includes Indonesia, Nigeria, Malaysia, Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

    Economic development, including peaceful uses of nuclear energy, figure high on the agenda for the meeting, which will end on Saturday.  Enditem

    (Agencies)