ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi held a telephonic conversation with his Bangladeshi counterpart AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday.
The two ministers discussed the challenges faced by regional countries in the face of rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and exchanged ideas on ways to combat the threat.
Qureshi underscored that Pakistan considered Saarc an important platform for regional cooperation. Reaffirming Pakistan’s abiding commitment to the Saarc process he reiterated Pakistan’s readiness to host the Saarc Health Ministers conference to enhance cooperation among member countries and development partners in health sector with particular focus on COVID-19.
He proposed that a video conference could be organised first in view of the prevailing situation. Appreciating Pakistan’s offer Foreign Minister Momen conveyed Bangladesh’s readiness to participate in the video conference.
Discussing the need to share resources it was underlined that Saarc COVID-19 emergency fund should be placed under the Secretary General of Saarc and the modalities for its utilisation should be finalised through consultations at the earliest.
Foreign Minister Qureshi also suggested that Saarc should evaluate and coordinate on the economic and social disruption caused by COVID-19 and experts from the member countries should commence work in this regard immediately.
Expressing concern over the economic challenges faced by the developing countries due to the global pandemic Foreign Minister Qureshi underscored the need for debt restructuring by developed countries and the international financial institutions so that the available resources could be utilised to deal with the unprecedented global health emergency.
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