Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani on Saturday said that Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar would soon visit Washington to pursue resumption of Pak-US strategic dialogue, stalled following killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad operation last year.
"Foreign Minister will visit Washington in next few days, as Pak-US strategic dialogue is about to resume very soon...", Jilani told reporters alongside OIC Ambassadors Conference jointly organised by Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).
He said that as the new terms of engagement with US had now been approved by the Parliament and they were looking forward to strengthening bilateral ties between the two countries. About reopening of Nato supplies, he said that the Parliament had recommended the government to take future course of action pertaining to its relation with the US, keeping in view the national interest as top priority, adding that any such decision would be taken solely based on the parliamentary guidelines.
To a question about Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project, he said that the project was crucial to overcome the country''s growing energy crisis. "The energy crisis confronting the country has badly affected the economy and the industrial sector...so pursuing the [IP] project is inevitable", he maintained.
When asked to comment about bolstering the trade volume with India, Jilani said that the current trade level with regional countries including India was going on at snail pace, which needed to be sped up. About Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), he said that Pakistan was currently in negotiation with the GCC countries to address the challenges, adding that the matter was also taken up with Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Prince Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz during his recent visit.
OIC ENVOYS MOOT The ambassadors of OIC countries renewed the call for removing all trade barriers between member countries, saying creation of free trade among OIC states will ensure increase the trade between them.
Foreign Secretary Foreign Jalil Abbas Jilani, while addressing as chief guest said that terrorism and natural calamities during the last several years, had badly affected the country''s economy, which needed to be revived. "Pakistan is particularly in the eye of storm for the last 10 years due to terrorism, which has not only affected the whole country as well as the region," he said.
Speaking about Pakistan''s frontline role in the global war on terror, he said Pakistan had lost over 30,000 civilians and more than 9000 security personnel while the country had a loss of $70 billion economically. Jilani said Pakistani nation and business community had shown great resilience in spite of the challenges of terrorism and natural disasters and worked hard to increase exports.
"Pakistan''s export to EU countries has been increased by 28-30 per cent when I was serving Pakistan ambassador in Brussels", he added. He called upon the OIC member states to encourage their business community to invest in Pakistan as it offered a conducive environment and incentives to foreign investors.
Jilani said that there was huge potential in Pakistan to tape in various sectors like chemicals, textiles, dairy farming, agriculture and energy for investment. "We want OIC countries to come forward and take advantage of investment opportunities Pakistan offers...", he added. He supported the LCCI initiative of launching research projects, saying he would encourage other OIC member states to extend their support to it as well.
The ambassadors said that the world was facing several challenges including poverty, hunger, terrorism, global recession and natural disasters. They said that Islamic world was not immune to these challenges and should come together to tackle these issues in the Islamic world by encouraging trade with one another.
In his opening remarks, LCCI President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that the chamber was desirous of having highest-level of trade among Muslim states. He said that the OIC is the second largest world forum after UN. "It [OIC] offers an unparalleled set of competitive advantages...it is the most resourceful and the second largest economic bloc in the world with a diverse and growing consumer market but we have witnessed that the progress towards economic integration of member countries has been rather slow", he added.
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