Caretaker FM to lead Pak delegation at SCO meeting

ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani will head the Pakistani delegation to the 22nd meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on October 26, the same day when Pakistan assumes the Chair of the SCO CHG.

“He has been invited by Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic Akylbek Japarov to attend the SCO’s Council of Heads of Government (CHG) meeting,” announced the Foreign Office.

The CHG meeting will be attended by the heads of government of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, vice president of Iran and foreign ministers of Pakistan and India.

The SCO observer states, Belarus and Mongolia, as well as guest state Turkmenistan will also attend the meeting. If the Indian Foreign Minister Dr Jaishankar also attends the meeting, it will be the first opportunity for both the foreign ministers to come face to face after the caretaker setup in Islamabad.

While no bilateral meeting can be expected when relations between the two neighbors are at their lowest, Jilani will be holding bilaterals with his other counterparts. The CHG is the second-highest forum in SCO and focuses primarily on the areas of economy, finance, commerce, and socio-economic cooperation.

Earlier, speaking at an event at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI), the caretaker foreign minister stressed the need to avoid bloc politics and geo-political constructs that did not align with the geographical, historical and cultural realities of the distinct regions spanned by the Indian and Pacific oceans.

“As a proponent of multilateralism, Pakistan believed that recommitment to the fundamental principles of the United Nations charter was the need of the hour. Pakistan’s consistent aspirations for a full dialogue partnership underscoring its continued commitment to ASEAN,” he said.

Terming a peaceful and stable Asia Pacific a priority, he pointed out that Pakistan stands ready to work with the member states of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) for attaining the goals of confidence-building and conflict prevention.

Jilani reaffirmed Pakistan’s support for an international order based on peaceful co-existence, amicable settlements of disputes, win-win cooperation, and shared prosperity.

Pakistan, he said, was fully supportive of the principles of ASEAN and was collaborating in a number of areas including conducting courses on finance and banking. He regretted that the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) which was established on the same lines of ASEAN despite its potential had fallen victim to India’s policies.

The interim foreign minister said Pakistan was currently facing economic, demographic, and economic and climate change challenges besides the creation of jobs for the young population. But at the same time Pakistan looked forward to meaningful cooperation amongst countries across the globe and termed it incumbent upon to work towards putting Pakistan on the path of sustainable economic growth.

“For socio-economic development, peace and security were a fundamental requisite, hence Pakistan’s priorities in foreign policy towards the neighbourhood, as well as region, was to make it conflict-free and development-driven,” he added.