LONDON: Former prime minister and PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif has said Pakistan would have been on track to host a G20 summit had the momentum set by his government in 2017 continued.
He expressed this view outside Stanhope House on Monday, when he was asked by reporters to comment on the recently concluded summit in Delhi.
“If the 2017 momentum was maintained, Pakistan would have been counted in the G20, and the summit would have been hosted in Pakistan,” he said, responding to a question about India’s rising economic and geopolitical prominence in the region.
The G20 summit concluded over the weekend in India, with world leaders including US President Joe Biden and UK PM Rishi Sunak, among others attending.
Mr Sharif was referring to his disqualification from office after a Supreme Court ruling in 2017 held he is no longer Sadiq and Ameen for failing to disclose receivables in a Dubai-based company.
Mr Sharif also mentioned that Monday was the death anniversary of his wife, Kulsoom Nawaz, and requested for prayers for the departed soul.
Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2023
