PAkiStAN PromotiNg regioNAl liNkAgeS to deAl with ecoNomic chAlleNgeS: Fm
FOREIGN Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday said that Pakistan is adhering to the policies of economic diplomacy and promoting regional linkages to deal with the challenges of economic implications.
Chairing a high-level meeting regarding coronavirus pandemic, economic diplomacy and regional security in Islamabad on Wednesday, he said, in this context, Pakistan has converted its geo-political priorities into geo-economic priorities.
He said that the coronavirus pandemic has adversely affected the world's strongest and most powerful economies.
The foreign minister said that the international community will have to play its due role to stop grim human rights violations in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) and establishing lasting peace in the region.
He said that Pakistan will continue its sincere efforts for regional peace and stability, including the Afghan peace process.
Separately, while inaugurating Pakistan's presentation at the virtual Sustainable Development Goals Investment Fair 2021, organised by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in New York, Qureshi said that Pakistan offers pivotal geo-economic location, regional connectivity, a huge consumer market, and skilled youth to investors.
He underscored that economic diplomacy is now at the core of Pakistan's foreign policy with a shift in emphasis towards geo-economics.
In addition to highlighting the importance of the private sector for achieving SDGs, the foreign minister emphasised that Pakistan's continued impressive progress on the ease-of-doing business rankings is a reflection of the growing confidence of investors in the recent policies of the government.
The SDG Investment Fair is an annual platform with the goal of facilitating new partnership opportunities to generate regional and global investments in social impact projects of developing countries.
This year's edition has been organised in a virtual format on the sidelines of the Forum on Financing for Development that is being held under Pakistan's presidency of the UN Economic and Social Council.
In collaboration with the UN Development Programme, Pakistan presented a portfolio of investment-ready sustainable development projects at the Fair worth two billion dollars, primarily in the sectors of climate change, infrastructure, and information technology, to attract international private sector investments from around the globe.