Dr Fehmida Mirza, Acting President on Saturday said that Pakistan was confronting the problems of terrorism and extremism and it was determined to overcome these challenges with the support of the masses and friendly countries.
Talking to the Ambassador of Iran Masha'allah Shakeri and the Ambassador of France Daniel Jouanneau in separate meetings, she said that despite problems caused by the collateral damages in fight against terrorism and extremism and the burden of refugees, moral of the people was high and Pakistan's economy was moving forward.
Talking to the Ambassador of Iran, the Acting President said that Iran and Pakistan have too much in common and they could use their proximity and commonalities for the benefit of the people of both the countries.
The Acting President said that there were vast opportunities for Iranian investors to invest in agro-based industries in Pakistan, while Pakistan can provide enough manpower to Iran for its industrial development. She said that Pakistan was a big market and the Iranian investors could benefit from it. Fehmida said that early completion of Pak-Iran gas-pipeline would open new avenues of progress and prosperity in the region.
The Ambassador of Iran Masha'allah Shakeri said that Iran wanted to see Pakistan strong and prosperous. He said that his country would extend every support to Pakistan to overcome the challenges it was confronting right now.
Talking to the Ambassador of France, Fehmida said that Pakistan was committed to root out terrorism for which it has adopted the policy of dialogue, deterrence and development. She said that Pakistan was a progressive country and its people wanted peace and prosperity in the region. She said that there are people who wanted to tarnish the image of Pakistan by projecting only negative things and then blowing that out of proportion.
She said that there were a lot of positive developments and good things in Pakistan that needed to be projected by media, so that the misperception generated in the west was removed.
The Ambassador of France Daniel Jouanneau said that his country supports democracy in Pakistan and would assist in strengthening democratic institutions in Pakistan. He said that France wanted Pakistan to resolve problems confronted by it and assured his country's all out support in this regard.-PR