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| June 19, 2005 | Sunday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 11, 1426 |
FM returns from US, Qatar visit
ISLAMABAD, June 18: Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri is back in Islamabad after an important bilateral visit to the US and Qatar where he led Pakistan’s delegation at the Second South Summit in Doha. During the summit, Foreign Minister Kasuri held over 20 bilateral meetings with the presidents of Algeria, Nigeria, Comoros, Burundi, and prime minister of Bangladesh, vice president of Afghanistan, vice premier of China, secretary general of Arab League and foreign ministers of Kenya, Guinea, Congo, Eritrea, South Africa, Niger, Senegal, Nepal, Malaysia, Indonesia, Kuwait, Syria, Morocco, Sri Lanka and Iran.
The bilateral meetings provided an opportunity to focus on promoting relations with African countries, said a Foreign Ministry statement issued here on Saturday.
Foreign ministers from various countries including Kenya, South Africa, Guinea, Djibouti, and Congo have accepted Foreign Minister Kasuri’s invitation to visit Pakistan, it added.
The bilateral contacts with the leading countries of Africa and effective participation by Pakistan and Foreign Minister Kasuri in the important work of the Second South Summit G-77 and China is symptomatic of the policy of active engagement of Pakistan with the international community, the statement maintained.
According to the statement, during his various meetings Foreign Minister Kasuri focused on the following themes: the need for a comprehensive reform of the UN Security Council and since no country has spoken against the enlargement of the number of non-permanent seats, agreement should be achieved along these lines; the question of expanding the permanent members category has proved to be divisive and the OIC should have adequate representation in an expanded Security Council.
At the summit meeting which concluded on Friday, the foreign minister proposed a 5-point formula for cooperation amongst developing countries and partnership between rich and poor countries. He also called for Good Global Governance.
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