We want to engage with everyone: Khar

Deputy FM says govt focussed on consolidating old friendships and forging new ones

ISLAMABAD:

The coalition government wanted to engage with everyone, including countries with which Pakistan might have differences, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar said, as she outlined on Tuesday the government priorities in deal with the foreign policy challenge.

The deputy foreign minister told reporters at the Foreign Office that the focus of the foreign policy would be to “build trust and confidence – that are the foundation of foreign relations – and consolidate old friendships and forge new ones”.

“We want to engage with everyone including with countries with which we have differences,” she said. “In the first place, we have made sure that it is always the national interest, that is upfront and that we are trying to promote – no personal agenda should come into play,” she told reporters.

The state minister further said that the aim of this approach was to provide stability and continuity in policies, while retaining the flexibility to adapt as required. The focus, she continued, would be on immediate neihghbourhood, including Afghanistan and India, while terming Kashmir the “core national interest” of Pakistan.

Since the relationship between Pakistan and the US remained fragile and tense during the previous Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, Khar emphasised that the government wanted to pursue “balanced, objective, broad-based and mutually-beneficial relations with the major powers”.

“The larger focus is on economic relations, trade and investment,” she stressed.

Talking about the visit of Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to New York, she said that it was the first visit of the foreign minister and it was in the multilateral context. “This shows the importance Pakistan attaches to multilaterism and the United Nations,” she said.

Khar said that Pakistan always played a proactive role at the multilateral forums and a strong voice in influencing and shaping the global discourse on a host of issues – from peace and security to development, climate change and human rights.

In New York, she told reporters, Pakistan would be attending two key meetings, including a ministerial meeting on ‘Global Food Security Call to Action’ to be held at the United Nations on Wednesday (today) and participate in the open debate of the Security Council on “Maintenance of International Peace and Security – Conflict and Food Security” on Thursday (tomorrow).

The food security meeting, hosted by the US, will bring together a regionally diverse group of countries, including those most-affected by food insecurity and those in a position to take action to address it. Around 30 countries have been invited.

At the meeting, the participating ministers will speak on humanitarian needs and longer-term development efforts required to save lives and build resilience for the future.

While in New York, the Foreign Minister will have other important engagements on the side-lines, including possible meetings with the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the UN General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid, according to the minister of state

“This will be an opportunity to brief them on issues of our interest, especially Jammu and Kashmir and Afghanistan.”

“On the bilateral side, meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected. It will be a useful opportunity to strengthen bilateral engagement and identify ways to deepen mutual cooperation on a range of areas of mutual interest,” she said.