Developing countries: Qureshi for restructuring of debt to help fight pandemic

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has emphasised the need for restructuring of the debt of the developing countries to help them fight the COVID-19 pandemic with their own resources.
Qureshi was chairing a meeting at the Foreign Office on Monday to discuss the worsening situation due to the pandemic and its adverse effects on the country's economy.
Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Omar, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar and Prime Minister's Adviser on Finance Hafiz Sheikh attended the meeting.
Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood and senior foreign ministry officials were also present in the meeting, while Munir Akram, Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the UN in New York and Khalil Hashmi, Pakistan's Permanent Representative in Geneva, participated in the meeting via video link.
Speaking on the occasion, Qureshi said that restructuring of debt would help the weak economies on the one hand to meet this global challenge and saving precious human lives, while on the other hand, it would help in achieving the sustainable development goals.
"The pandemic is a global challenge, which has affected the whole world," he said, adding that developing countries with low economic resources, such as Pakistan, were facing severe difficulties in dealing with the outbreak and its adverse impacts on the domestic economy.
On the one hand, Qureshi pointed out that the export rate had dropped drastically, while on the other hand, economic activities were halted due to the continued lockdown.
In view of this situation, he pointed out that Prime Minister Imran Khan had proposed to facilitate the weak economies in repayment of loans of the developing countries, which was being discussed on various international forums.
The foreign minister also briefed the meeting about his recent efforts to highlight the prime minister's proposal internationally, adding he had held telephonic contacts with the secretary general of the United Nations, secretary general of the OIC, secretary general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), his counterparts from the European countries as well as the SAARC states.
The foreign minister also instructed Pakistan's permanent representatives in New York and Geneva to play their active role in this regard on the international forums.