US invites Pakistan to Global Covid Summit

Bilawal, Blinken agreed to remain in contact and enhance engagement on issues of mutual interest

ISLAMABAD:

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday sought to strengthen “mutually beneficial and broad-based” relationship with the United States in a maiden telephone call with his American counterpart Anthony Blinken, as the Biden administration invited Pakistan to the Global Covid Summit.

According to a statement issued by the Foreign Office, during the phone call, Secretary Blinken congratulated Foreign Minister Bilawal on assumption of his office, expressing the desire to continue strengthening mutually beneficial Pakistan-US bilateral relationship.

Exchanging views on various aspects of Pakistan-US relations, the foreign minister underscored that Pakistan and the US had a longstanding broad-based relationship.

He added that constructive and sustained engagement between the two countries on the basis of mutual respect and mutual interest was vital to promote peace, development and security in the region and beyond.

The foreign minister emphasised that Pakistan’s vision was focused on human development, regional connectivity, and a peaceful neighborhood.

Building on the Pakistan-US cooperation in dealing with the Covid pandemic during the last two years, Secretary Blinken invited Pakistan to the second Global Covid Summit to be held virtually later this month. An invitation was also extended by the secretary of state for Pakistan’s participation in the ministerial meeting on Global Food Security to be held in New York on May 18, 2022.

The foreign minister and the secretary of state agreed to remain in contact and enhance engagement on regional and global issues of mutual interest.

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It is not clear at this stage whether Pakistan would attend both events as Pakistan skipped the Democracy Summit hosted by President Biden in December last year.

But with the new government seeking greater engagement with the US, it will not be a surprise if Pakistan attends the global summit on Covid and sends its delegation to the food security conference.

This was the first telephonic conversation between the Pakistani foreign minister and the US secretary of state in eight months. Last time Blinken had spoken to the then Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in September 2021 days after the US-led foreign forces pulled out of Afghanistan.

Secretary Blinken’s telephone to the new foreign minister came amid no letup in former prime minister Imran Khan’s allegations that he was ousted from power through a US-backed conspiracy.

The coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has decided to form an “independent commission” to look into the allegations but Imran has rejected the proposal and sought formation of a judicial commission on the matter.

The controversy revolves around a diplomatic cable the then Pakistani ambassador in Washington sent to the Foreign Office on March 7. The cable was based on Ambassador Asad Majid’s conversation with US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Donald Lu. In that cable, according to Imran, the US official threatened Pakistan of dire consequences if the vote of no confidence against the PTI leader did not succeed. The former prime minister claimed that he was ousted from power because he had pursued an independent foreign policy and undertook a visit to Russia despite the US opposition.

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The National Security Committee (NSC), the country’s highest forum on such matters, met twice—first on March 31 when Imran was still the prime minister and then on April 22 when Shahbaz Sharif was the country’s chief executive. In both the meetings, the NSC agreed that the language used by the American official was undiplomatic and tantamount to “blatant interference” but found no evidence to suggest that there was a conspiracy against Imran Khan.

The PTI chairman, nevertheless, has kept building this narrative that the NSC endorsed his claims.

The controversy has complicated the already fraught relationship between Pakistan and the US.

The new government, however, has been trying to bring some semblance of certainty with statements underlining the importance of relationship with the West, particularly the US.

The US officials have also issued statements in favour of engagement with Pakistan. The latest telephone call, observers believe, suggests the eagerness from both sides to reset their troubled ties.

Despite the fact that the US pulled out of Afghanistan, Washington still has stakes in the neighboring country given that any instability would allow terrorist groups to regroup that may not just pose threat to the region but the US interests too.

Pakistan is worried over the recent spike in cross-border terrorist attacks from Afghanistan and considers counter-terrorism cooperation vital to deny the banned TTP and other groups space in Afghanistan.

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Meanwhile, in another sign of shift in Pakistan’s policy, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar participated virtually in the High-Level International Donor’s Conference for Ukraine held on May 5, 2022 in Warsaw, Poland.

The state minister appreciated the efforts of the prime ministers of Poland and Sweden for organising the conference for humanitarian assistance for the Ukrainian people. She expressed deep concern at the continuation of war, increasing number of civilian causalities, deteriorating humanitarian situation, and refugee crisis.

The state minister reiterated Pakistan’s principled stance for universal and consistent application of UN Charter principles – including non-use or threat of use of force, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of states, pacific settlement of disputes, and equal security for all states in order to ensure lasting peace and security.

The state minister added that Pakistan continued to call for immediate cessation of hostilities and stressed the need for diplomacy and dialogue for an early, negotiated end to the Ukraine conflict.

The state minister informed that Pakistan was in the process of dispatching a second consignment of humanitarian supplies to the Ukrainian people. The first consignment was delivered in March 2022, carrying over 15 tones of humanitarian assistance including food and medicines.