Bilawal, Nawaf agree to enhance Pak-Saudi ties

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Thursday received Nawaf bin Saeed A Al Malkiy, Ambassador of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

According to the statement issued by Bilawal Bhutto on social media, they exchanged views on a wide range of issues of mutual interest. They agreed to enhance bilateral economic cooperation with particular focus on trade and investment.

Meanwhile, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari met Ambassador of the State of Qatar to Pakistan Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani. During the meeting, bilateral cooperation and relations between the two countries were reviewed.

FM Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also received Deputy United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Kelly Clements. According to the statement issued by Bilawal Bhutto on social media, during the meeting they discussed the Afghan refugee situation underscoring the need for sustained international support for host communities. They stressed much-needed humanitarian and economic assistance to Afghan people.

Earlier, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that he had reaffirmed Pakistan's desire to play the role of a bridge between the world powers and not a divider. “The country will have to find new ways to conduct itself internally and externally,” he said while addressing the 49th Foundation Day of the Institute of Strategic Studies in Islamabad on Thursday.

“Pakistan has an important geographical location and it has the potential to mitigate the conflict between the world powers as it did in the past between the United States and China,” he said.

The foreign minister said the world is at crossroads in terms of geopolitical and geo-strategic shift and turns and it’s imperative that Pakistan should construct informed policy-making, which will result in healthy and open debate and dialogue and it would be better for the country. “If one is truly patriotic, then one is willing to do whatever necessary to safeguard the interest of their country,” he said.

He said our neighbour to the north is China, our all-weather friend, and whether we like it or not, we will never be able to change the fact that India is also our neighbour and, on the other side, we have Iran from where he just returned on his first official visit as the foreign minister, and of course Afghanistan. “So, it is very easy to see that the development of global geopolitical events have had a direct impact on Pakistan, but, have we been conducting ourselves in a way that engages with these challenges and sees them not only as challenges but also an opportunity. I don’t think we have been, or if we have been, I’m sure we have been trying to but there’s a lot more potential, which is just waiting to be unlocked,” he said. He said diplomatically, economically, culturally and politically, we believe that engagement is the answer. He said engagement with other countries, including India and the United States, was important for Pakistan in view of the emerging geopolitical developments.

“An internationally-isolated or disengaged Pakistan cannot achieve the goals of development and prosperity,” he said. “When I say that we’re cutting our nose to spite our face, I mean that if we’re not even going to try and engage on the basis of one issue or the other, then how can we hope to impact or change the course of events,” he said.

The FM said the way that the most of world is seeing global events developing today, of global power conflict, great power conflict. “Is this great power conflict in the interest of Pakistan? Can Pakistan do anything to mitigate, avert or play its part rather than increasing conflict, tensions but actually to reduce tensions, to play a bridge, to play a role to enhance engagement,” he added.

The FM said Pakistan are so well-positioned, if we engage with our overseas communities, if we engage with our intellectual capital, and if we engage with the United States not just as a country but as a people, to put across our point of view and provide not only economic opportunities for our people but to play a role in reducing rather than increasing the tensions on the world stage.

He said Pakistan did have issues with India and have a long history of war, conflict. “Today, where we have serious disputes, the events of August 2019 cannot be taken lightly,” he said. He said the attempted undermining of the internationally-disputed status of Indian-occupied Kashmir, the beginning of a process to undermine the Muslim majority and artificially empower the minority are such important issues for us that indeed we have to take them up in the most serious and most aggressive manner.

In India, he said the illegal steps such as August 2019 could not be taken lightly that undermined the internationally-recognized status of Jammu and Kashmir. He termed it a “significant assault” on the rights of Kashmiris and said such important issues needed to be the cornerstone of conversations.

He mentioned the Delimitation Commission and also the Islamophobic remarks by an Indian political party member, however, said the scope of economic engagement existed even between China and the US had conflicts of interest on various matters. “With an economic integration between Pakistan and India, neither State would be in a position to take an extreme stance,” he said. However, he said, “Cutting one’s nose to spite their face” could not be a prudent option. He suggested that engagement with Indian media and the public could better help advance Pakistan’s point of view.

FM Bhutto also stressed engagement with China, India, Iran, and Afghanistan amid global geopolitics. He said the Ukraine-Russia conflict was affecting the world, including Pakistan, and called the need for promoting economic diplomacy among countries amid the challenges of the pandemic, climate change and inflation.