NEW YORK: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Thursday met his British counterpart Jeremy Hunt on the sidelines of 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York and discussed bilateral relations.
According to a statement, Qureshi stressed the need to improve bilateral ties with the UK. He called for enhanced bilateral cooperation in political, security and defence, trade and investment, education and development spheres.
Qureshi also briefed Hunt on relations with Afghanistan and grave human rights violations being committed by Indian security forces in Indian-held Kashmir.
The foreign minister also met his Saudi counterpart Adel bin Ahmad Al-Jubeir and discussed matters of mutual interest.
Both reiterated their desire to work closely for enhancing bilateral trade, business and investment relations, said Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal.
The FO spokesperson said that the foreign minister and Adel bin Ahmad Al-Jubeir agreed to convene the next round of bilateral political consultations at an early date.
During a separate meeting with Federica Mogherini, vice president and high representative of the European Union on foreign affairs and security policy, the foreign minister invited the high representative to visit Pakistan in November this year for the Pakistan-EU Strategic Dialogue.
The two sides agreed to continue working together for strengthening cooperation in the fields of trade and investment, development, migration and peace and security.
The two leaders further discussed the positive impact of GSP Plus on trade between Pakistan and the EU.
The foreign minister also briefed the high representative on the regional situation.
Separately, he met his counterparts from Turkey, China, Japan, Nepal, Switzerlandl, Qatar and Oman.
With the Qatari foreign minister, Qureshi talked about bolstering the bilateral relations and in response, Doha offered to provide 100,000 job opportunities to skilled Pakistani workers.
Qureshi also had delegation-level talks with his Chinese counterpart, assuring Wang Xi that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was Islamabad’s first priority. Pakistan would make efforts to take the bilateral strategic partnership to new heights, he told the Chinese foreign minister and informed him of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s proposed visit to China.
Meanwhile, the foreign minister would also speak at the Asia Society today where he would interact with American academics, foreign policy experts and students.
He is also scheduled to meet his US counterpart Mike Pompeo on October 2.
The high-level huddle with the US diplomat is one of the top agendas of Qureshi’s week-long visit to the US, which is aimed at following up on the progress made in the former’s visit to Islamabad earlier.
He will inform the world about the grave human rights violations by Indian forces in Held Kashmir during his address to United Nation General Assembly session on September 29. He will also hold about 40 meetings with other leaders from various countries during his stay.
Published in Daily Times, September 28th 2018.
