ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar will attend the 53rd Annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) taking place in Davos, Switzerland from January 16-20, Foreign Office said.
Speaking at weekly media briefing on Friday, Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said that Pakistan is a regular participant in WEF meetings. At the Forum, she added that Pakistan will present its perspective on issues of global economic importance.
She stated that the FM and the State minister will also meet participating dignitaries including political leaders, corporate executives, heads of international organisations, and leading media and civil society personalities.
About the visit of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to the United Arab Emirates, she said that during the prime minister’s meetings with the top UAE leadership, they reviewed bilateral ties between Pakistan and the UAE, and agreed to further strengthen mutually-beneficial cooperation, especially in the areas of trade, investment, and energy.
She said that the two sides agreed to deepen bilateral investment cooperation, stimulate partnerships and enable investment integration opportunities.
To a query, she said that Pakistan has very good relations with all countries in the Gulf region. “We are grateful for their friendship and support that they have been extending to Pakistan throughout the years,” she said, adding that the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, and others have supported Pakistan in the past including after natural calamities.
Referring to the recently-held International Conference on Resilient Pakistan in Geneva, she said that the moot brought together the international community to reaffirm solidarity with the flood-affected people of Pakistan.
“There was high-level representation from a large number of countries and prominent international financial and development institutions. We are particularly grateful for the UN Secretary-General’s presence at the Conference, as the co-host, and becoming the voice of the flood-affected people of Pakistan,” she said.
She said that the conference identified the principles and action plan for Pakistan’s resilient recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction. She said that bilateral and multilateral partners committed financial support of over US 9.5 billion dollars for realisation of the objectives and priority areas outlined in 4RF.
“A number of delegations made further announcements for in-kind support. We are grateful to all our partners for the generous pledges they made at the conference,” she added.
She said that the government of Pakistan will work with an “International Partners Support Group to Pakistan’s Resilient Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction” to develop detailed plans for specific recovery interventions and building Pakistan’s climate resilience and adaptation.
“Our immediate focus would be on preventing health crisis; mitigating the impact of this winter and the rains in the next monsoon; and restoring livelihoods. Our Long-term Resilience Framework envisages building resilience and Pakistan’s capacity to withstand future shocks. Effective monitoring and evaluation mechanisms will ensure transparency in funding allocation and spending,” she added.
To a question about Saudi economic assistance, the spokesperson said that Pakistan welcomes the Saudi decision to increase its investments in Pakistan. She said that all trade and investment-related projects when they are discussed, take several months of discussion and painstaking negotiations to come to fruition. So, these items have been discussed at various levels, including at the leadership level, she added.
“Any further talks if required between the two sides, including at the leadership level will be held to formalise these investments. I cannot at this stage share with you the sectors in which this investment will take place because this is the beginning of the process. It will take some time before we are able to identify all those projects,” she said in a response to a question with regard to the sectors, the $ 10 billion Saudi investment will be made.
Responding to another question about the reported surgical strikes conducted by the Myanmar army on a rebel camp and a bomb dropped in a village in India, she said: “We have seen the reports and we are observing the situation. I do not have any further comments to offer at this point.”
When asked to confirm the media reports that claimed that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was all set to visit Pakistan last year, but the plan was cancelled at the 11th hour, the spokesperson termed the reports as speculative, saying: “We do not speak about speculative reporting and I could only term this article as a speculative reporting.”
The spokesperson said that a Host Country Agreement (HCA) was signed between Pakistan and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) on Thursday, adding that the agreement was signed by Syed Haider Shah, additional secretary (United Nations) on behalf of the Government of Pakistan and Hans Guttman, executive director of ADPC. With the agreement, she added that the organisation will be able to operate its country office in Pakistan. “Going forward, we hope to further strengthen our cooperation with ADPC,” she added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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