Pakistan keen to boost ties with Germany: Senate chairman

ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Yousuf Raza Gillani on Thursday said Germany was a valuable partner of Pakistan bilaterally and in the EU context and “we are keen to further strengthen this partnership”.

On defence cooperation between Pakistan and Germany, he called for revisiting the German decision for imposing ban on selling small arms to Pakistan. He noted the fact that Pakistan and Germany shared a rich history of diplomatic relations founded in mutual trust, cooperation and commitment to global peace and development.

He expressed these views during a meeting with a three-member German parliamentary delegation led by Michael Muller, MP, German Bundestag, at the Parliament House here. The chairman Senate specially mentioned the high level contacts and said that Pakistan desired to promote more interactions at all levels, underscoring the need to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries and said that high level political contacts helped bring people closer.

He informed the delegation that the Senate of Pakistan was working on establishing friendship groups to promote people-to-people contacts for better understanding. While appreciating development cooperation, he expressed the desire to continue efforts for tackling climate change-related challenges. He said German assistance for rehabilitation of flood and earthquake victims was remarkable as it helped in providing relief to the homeless and shelterless communities during the crisis at that time. Both Pakistan and Germany enjoy cordial relations and cooperation at international forums like IPU and CPA. “Such a bond of friendship and collaboration shows that Germany is a trusted partner,” he remarked.

The Senate chairman also emphasized increasing bilateral trade volume and said that huge potential existed to further boost mutual trade and economic cooperation. He observed that education, sports particularly football, energy, health, environment and climate were some of the areas where Pakistan could learn from German experiences.

He appreciated Germany for providing scholarships to Pakistani students for higher studies. He specifically observed that inordinate delays in the issuance of student, family reunion and business visas created hardships for people and hoped that the issue would be addressed as early as possible. He said Pakistan was committed to promoting peace and stability in its neighbourhood and beyond on the principles of the UN charter for peaceful settlement of disputes through dialogue and diplomacy. He said durable peace in South Asia remained linked to peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant UNSC resolutions and as per aspirations of the Kashmiri people.

The human rights issue, he said, remained a top concern for European countries and in this regard, they might use their influence over India to improve the human rights situation in IIOJK and halt political engineering.

He also highlighted the Palestine situation and said that it was deeply upsetting for Pakistan that Israeli aggression against civilians in Gaza and Rafah did not show any sign of stoppage. He called upon the international community to take steps for immediate ceasefire and reiterated that there could be no peace in the region unless a dialogue-based approach on the two states solution was adopted. He acknowledged the positive role played by the Pakistan diaspora in the socio-economic development of Germany while saying the community was acting as a bridge between Pakistan and Germany.

Senator Sherry Rehman , Senator Irfan Siddiqui and Senator Abdul Qadir also expressed their views during the meeting. They called for cooperation in diverse sectors including energy and climate change to introduce new approaches and pathways for de-carbonization. Sherry appreciated German assistance in the field of climate finance. Senator Siddiqui emphasized the need to enhance cooperation in the education sector. Senator Qadir stressed cementing business linkages.

The leader of the German delegation thanked Gillani for the warm welcome at the Parliament House. He said Pakistan was an important country for Germany and should continue to act as a stability anchor for the region. He also called for broadening mutual collaboration and diversifying the linkages.

He said Pakistan was most affected by the impacts of climate change and there was huge potential where both Pakistan and Germany could work together and share experiences. The Senate chairman also celebrated the seventy years of Pakistan-Germany relationship and extended an invitation to his counterpart in the German parliament to visit Pakistan at a convenient time.