FM asks envoys to broaden mutually beneficial trade, economic partnerships

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi stressed on envoys to cultivate and broaden mutually beneficial trade and economic partnerships with European countries, focusing on key goals of trade promotion, financial inflows, investments, remittances, tourism and technology transfer.

As part of the government’s economic outreach initiative, the fifth virtual meeting on Economic Diplomacy was held on Wednesday. The meeting, chaired by the foreign minister, focused on Europe and Pakistan’s envoys to France, Italy, Norway, Poland, Romania and Russia participated in the meeting.

Highlighting the growing importance of geo-economics in international politics, the foreign minister underscored Economic Diplomacy as an essential part of modern diplomatic practice.

He said in line with Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and missions abroad were at the forefront of safeguarding and advancing Pakistan’s economic interests.

They played an important role in successful implementation of a range of measures including the Prime Minister’s ‘Global Initiative on Debt Relief’ for developing countries, Prime Minister’s Economic Outreach Initiative, and Roshan Digital Account.

Underscoring the importance of consolidating and expanding Pakistan’s economic outreach with Europe, Foreign Minister Qureshi stressed the need to diversify exports to the EU countries to fully utilize the benefits under the GSP Plus status.

He further emphasized the need to constructively engage with parliamentarians in Europe and EU parliament with a view to maximizing avenues for economic outreach and collaboration.

The foreign minister appreciated the increased inflow of investment from Europe into Pakistan and urged the missions to proactively engage with their interlocutors to showcase the investment potential of the country.

Highlighting the government’s continued efforts in that regard, the foreign minister highlighted Pakistan’s impressive improvement in ease of doing business ranking. Pakistan had also secured 6th place among world’s top 10 business climate improvers.

Foreign Minister Qureshi instructed the envoys to identify and address bottlenecks that hinder expansion of economic collaboration with host countries. The envoys were also asked to identify sectors where Pakistan could enhance its economic footprint in Europe.

During the virtual meeting, the Pakistani envoys apprised the foreign minister of their activities and programmes in economic and commercial domains.

They briefed about measures to strengthen existing linkages and forge new ones for bolstering Pakistan’s economic imprint in Europe.

In keeping with Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision, Foreign Minister Qureshi had consistently accentuated promotion of economic diplomacy and increased economic cooperation with partner countries.

Regular virtual meetings and interactions on Economic Diplomacy with Pakistani envoys in key capitals are part of these efforts.