Prime Min-ister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Friday cancelled his visit to New York to address the 66th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and nominated Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar to lead the Pakistan delegation to the UNGA from September 17-27.
Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir told a joint news conference with Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Jawed Ludin at the Foreign Office on Friday that the Prime Minister has taken the decision owing to current devastating floods in the country causing huge losses and the outburst of dengue fever.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Office said that the Prime Minister has cancelled his visit in order to personally supervise relief efforts in flood affected areas in southern Pakistan as well as efforts to control the dengue epidemic which has affected Punjab and other parts of the country.
According to the Foreign Office, the Prime Minister had a very busy schedule during his stay in New York. In addition to his address to the plenary of the UNGA, a number of meetings had been finalised with world and corporate leaders. These included, among others, meetings with Presidents of Afghanistan, Iran and Sri Lanka, Prime Minister of Belarus, Secretary General Nato and President of the European Commission. The Prime Minister's visit was part of Pakistan's policy of regional and global outreach. He would have also sought support for Pakistan's forthcoming election to the non-permanent seat of the UN Security Council.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.