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Foreign Minister Qureshi briefs Islamabad-based
envoys
Islamabad : As part of Foreign Minister Makhdoom
Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s regular interaction with
Islamabad-based foreign envoys on Pakistan’s
internal developments and topical foreign policy
issues, a meeting was held at the Foreign Office .
The briefing was attended by the
Heads/representatives of missions of European
countries, Canada and the USA.
The
Foreign Minister said that Pakistan had come a long
way in consolidating democracy and democratic
traditions in the country. Today, Pakistan had free
media, truly independent judiciary, strong
Parliament and robust civil society. The Government
was encouraging the norms of pluralism, tolerance
and accommodation and was resolved to continue
working towards further promoting democracy in the
country.
The
Foreign Minister said it was democracy that helped
build national consensus against terrorism and
violent extremism. The people of Pakistan had
demonstrated exceptional resilience in facing
militancy. The Government was determined to make
Pakistan a peaceful and modern state. It was
necessary that the international community continued
supporting Pakistan’s efforts in this behalf.
The
Foreign Minister also referred to the 7th
NFC Award and the Balochistan development plan as
other significant achievements of the Government.
Dwelling on
Pakistan-Afghanistan relations, Foreign Minister
Qureshi underlined that there had been unprecedented
positive developments in the bilateral
relationship. Peace and stability in Afghanistan
were necessary for stability in Pakistan. The two
situations being interlinked, Pakistan would
continue playing its positive role in this regard
bilaterally, regionally and globally.
Briefing
was followed by a question-answer session.
Questions were asked about the upcoming London
Conference on Afghanistan, the Friends of Democratic
Pakistan (FODP’)s Public-Private Partnership
Conference in Dubai and Pakistan’s relations with
India in the context of recent unhelpful statements
emanating from New Delhi. Regarding the latter, the
Foreign Minister reiterated that Pakistan and India,
as was agreed by the two Prime Ministers at Sharm-el
Sheikh, should resolve their bilateral disputes
through dialogue. He added that uncalled for
statements, such as made by the Indian Army Chief
recently served no purpose but to vitiate the
bilateral atmosphere.
On the
Public-Private Partnership Conference in Dubai on 26
January 2010, the Foreign Minister said Pakistan
offered lucrative opportunities for foreign
investors. At Dubai, our efforts would be to
encourage the private sector to invest in Pakistan
in areas including Energy, Agriculture and
Infrastructure Development and create win-win
scenarios.
Updated
: Jan 12,2010
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