Nine envoys gather in capital to set new foreign policy goals
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ISLAMABAD: A three-day envoys’ conference on critical challenges facing the country’s foreign policy opened at the Foreign Office on Monday.
Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz chaired the opening session. The conference is being attended by nine ambassadors posted in key capitals and multilateral organisations.
On the first day, the participating envoys and senior FO officials held internal deliberations. The brainstorming will continue on the second day before the conference formulates its recommendations, which will be presented to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
“The envoys will present their recommendations regarding the foreign policy with a view to reviewing, adapting and recalibrating it in accordance with the prevalent strategic, political and economic trends,” a spokesman for the FO said.
The prime minister will address the concluding session on Wednesday.
The Prime Minister’s Office shared the outline of Mr Sharif’s speech with the media, saying he would enunciate his vision for regional and global peace, highlight the potential of CPEC projects and draw attention towards Pakistan’s positive ratings by international agencies.
Mr Sharif, the PMO said, would ask the envoys to highlight the infrastructure development and other progress taking place in the country and promote a peaceful, progressive, economically vibrant and responsible image of the country.
The issues that will be taken up during the three-day event include relations with the US, India (especially in the context of Kashmir uprising), Afghanistan, China, Russia, and EU; upcoming Saarc summit; membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group and disarmament affairs; terrorism and UN-related matters.
The envoys attending the conference are Ambassador Jalil Abbas Jilani (Washington), Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi (United Nations — New York), High Commissioner Abdul Basit (Delhi), Ambassador Masood Khalid (Beijing), Ambassador Qazi Khalilullah (Moscow), Ambassador Tehmina Janjua (United Nations — Geneva and Conference on Disarmament), Ambassador Nagmana Hashmi (Brussels and EU), Ambassador Ayesha Riyaz (Vienna and IAEA) and Ambassador Abrar Hussain (Kabul).
Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2016
