Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Saturday said Pakistan was dynamically involved in the activities of United Nations besides being the second largest contributor of peacekeeping troops world-wide.
Talking to a delegation of students from Headstart School Islamabad here at the PM House, the Prime Minister said Pakistan was actively contributing towards ensuring peace during conflicts, and the post-conflict situation in various countries.
The students are due to represent Pakistan at the Amman Model United Nations Conference to be held in Jordan. The Prime Minister advised the students, who will be proceeding to Jordan shortly, to serve as true ambassadors of Pakistan and bring laurels to the country.
The Prime Minister said Pakistan had taken a lead role in piloting UN reforms at the country level by establishing the 'One UN', so that all UN organisations work at a single platform.
He also mentioned Pakistan's role as the chair of the G-77 group in ensuring that the UN activities reflect the aspirations and wishes of the developing countries, and recalled the UN Reforms meeting of the High-level Panel, co-chaired by him along with the prime ministers of Norway and Mozambique.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said the spirit of the UN reforms in Pakistan was the efficient delivery of social services, not just for better co-ordination but for a more focused and effective UN system to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
Prime Minister Aziz appreciated the UN's contribution in the aftermath of the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan that helped raise 6.4 billion dollars for relief and rehabilitation. Later in an interactive session with the students, the Prime Minister replied to various queries regarding Pakistan's role in human trafficking, maintaining diplomacy while avoiding clashes, terrorism and economic policies.
The Prime Minister said the government was focusing on promoting education at primary, secondary and high education levels, believing that illiterate nations can never progress. He said the efforts were being made to equip youth with skills so as to increase their source of income.
On human trafficking, the Prime Minister said the border control had been strengthened and effective steps had been taken to prepare foolproof documents to check forgery.
He said the focus was on opening more legal routes to discourage human trafficking. When asked about possible solution of Kashmir, the Prime Minister said the UN Resolution was still intact and Pakistan was for a favourable solution that reflected the aspirations of the Kashmiris.
On security challenges the country was facing, the Prime Minister said these were mainly stemming from neighbouring Afghanistan, where there was a heightened security situation while Pakistan was still hosting three million refugees. He said a porous border with Afghanistan and the drug money were the problems Pakistan contributing to terrorism in the area.
He said Pakistan had been a victim of terrorism for which he stressed the need for addressing the root causes. He termed lack of dispute resolution and economic deprivation that has led to increasing incidents of terrorism.
Ten students and two teachers will participate in the debate competition at the conference being organised by the Amman Baccalaureate School. Princess Sarwat of Jordan is the patron-in-chief of the school.