The Foreign Office has said that Pakistan stayed away from the regional trade officials’ video conference on Covid-19 hosted by India because it had not been managed by the secretariat of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc).

“Activities such as today’s Trade Officials’ Video-Conference could only be effective if spearheaded by the Saarc Secretariat. Since the Saarc Secretariat was not part of today’s Video-Conference, Pakistan chose not to participate,” the FO said while explaining Pakistan’s absence from the conference.

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