Foreign Minister Khurshid M Kasuri returned home on Saturday after attending a Summit in Doha that discussed proposed UN reforms and co-operation among developing countries. During the Summit that ended on June 17, Kasuri held over 20 bilateral meetings with the Presidents of Algeria, Nigeria, Comoros, Burundi, Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Vice President of Afghanistan, Vice Premier of China and Secretary General of Arab League.
Kasuri also met his counterparts from Kenya, Guinea, Congo, Eritrea, South Africa, Niger, Senegal, Nepal, Malaysia, Indonesia, Kuwait, Syria, Morocco, Sri Lanka and Iran.
He spoke at the Interactive Dialogue on South Co-operation and proposed a five-point formula for co-operation amongst developing countries and partnership between rich and poor countries.
The meetings of the Foreign Ministers focussed on the need for a comprehensive reform of the UN Security Council. These meetings noted the question of expanding permanent members' category has proved to be divisive and that OIC should have adequate representation in an expanded Security Council.
The Doha Declaration and the Doha Plan of Action - the two outcome documents of the Second South Summit in which Pakistan made significant contribution - jointly make an important and comprehensive statement on the development objectives of the South and the ways and means to achieve them.
The Political Declaration sends out a strong message for the UN September Summit in the area of resource flows, debt, official development assistance, trade and Investment.
The message from Doha is likely to have some concrete impact in the context of influencing the decisions; the UN Summit is expected to take in September 2005. Pakistan participated actively in drafting the outcome documents.
Pakistani's ideas on greater financial co-operation including trade financing, regular reporting mechanisms on implementation, closer networking between South institutions and identification of Centres of Excellence for promoting technical co-operation were included in the final document. The ministers' bilateral meetings also provided an opportunity to focus on promoting relations with African countries.
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