The Embassy of Pakistan Washington DC has launched a major public diplomacy initiative named "Pakistan Embassy Forum". The inaugural session of the Forum was hosted by the Embassy on Friday that deliberated upon the "Energy Situation in Pakistan". The session was attended by participants from think tanks, academia, US Government departments, World Bank, IMF, private sector energy companies and notables of Pakistani-American diaspora.
In his opening remarks Ambassador Jalil Abbas Jilani described the objective of the establishment of the Forum. He said that instead of a defensive or reactive approach the embassy was adopting a proactive approach to provide avenues of engagement on public policy matters in the national and regional context.
He expressed the hope that the debates held under the Forum would help counter negative portrayal of Pakistan in the public domain through sustained engagement with experts and policy community with a veracity of perspectives. Jilani also noted that the Embassy Forum would also build up a resource base in the form of pools of experts to project and promote our policies in the positive light. It also expected to expand the circle of friends of Pakistan by adopting an inclusive approach, through listening to sane voices and blunting the negative stream of information. Through this initiative the Embassy intends to institutionalize linkages between experts, academicians, and scholars in Pakistan and the US.
Ziad Allahdad, leading energy expert and former Director of World Bank and Shahid Javed Burki, the eminent economist, who is currently associated with Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, led the discussion. Ziad Allahdad presented a paper highlighting various dimensions of Pakistan's energy sector and its challenges.