PM Imran constitutes advisory council on foreign policy

Body is formed to make the mostly security-centric foreign policy leaning towards economic issues

ISLAMABAD: In an effort to recalibrate Pakistan’s foreign policy and move away from security-centric approach, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday constituted an Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs to be headed by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

“The advisory council comprises highly experienced former diplomats and ambassadors alongside academicians from the country’s renowned universities associated with the study of international relations and foreign policy,” said a statement issued by the foreign office.

The council is tasked to formulate recommendations related to Pakistan’s foreign policy, based on their experience and knowledge, especially issues that are not routinely concentrated on such as national resource constraints.

In order to emphasis on these issues, Dr Adil Najam, a world-renowned expert has been included in the advisory council.



“In order to dispel the impression of our foreign policy being mostly security-centric and less directed towards economic issues, experts having relevant experience in international economics have been made part of the advisory council. In order to have a holistic approach, minsters of finance, commerce and planning have also been included as members of the council,” the statement further read.

The council will have representation from the Foreign Service Academy, the institution where diplomats are trained, linking the training academy directly to the policy making domain. In addition to this, the Director General of Institute of Strategic Studies will also be made a member of this council.

The first meeting of the body, under the chairmanship of the foreign minister, will be convened shortly. All members of the council will serve in an honourary capacity without any monetary remunerations.



The council, through its deliberations and recommendations, will help take stock of Pakistan’s foreign policy and make recommendations for achieving its goals.

Foreign policy has always been the subject of debate in Pakistan with particular focus on one question that whether the elected government or military establishment formulates the country’s external policy.

The prime minister has recently dismissed the impression that foreign policy was formulated in the GHQ, though he said he did take input from the military establishment given the nature of challenges on the external front.

The latest move suggests the government wants to reorient the foreign policy with main focus on the economic diplomacy. This week the foreign office also organised a two-day conference on the economic diplomacy.

The conference was attended by Prime Minister Imran as well as ministers of finance, commerce and others besides businessmen and envoys posted in the key world capitals.