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TIANJIN, Sep 01 (APP): Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif in an address to the SCO (Plus), held here on Monday expressed Pakistan’s resolve to support President Xi Jinping’s landmark announcement to launch the Global Governance Initiative (GGI).
He said it was a historic step towards a stronger multilateral system, a Prime Minister’s Office news release said.
The initiative aligns with the UN Charter, and will help make the global governance system more responsive to the needs of developing countries, and address contemporary challenges facing humanity, he added, expressing Pakistan’s willingness to actively participate in the initiative.
The Prime Minister is leading a delegation to the summit meetings of SCO Council of Heads of State (CHS) and SCO CHS Plus presided by China’s President Xi Jinping.
The Prime Minister congratulated the Chinese President Xi Jinping for the successful conduct of SCO Summit and appreciated The Tianjin Declaration that he hoped will foster the shared goal of peace and prosperity in the region.
He reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to the “Shanghai Spirit” that stands for mutual trust and respect for shared prosperity and development. Reaffirming the purposes and principles of UN and SCO Charters, he underscored that Pakistan respected sovereignty and territorial integrity of all SCO members as well as all international and bilateral treaties.
Hoping that all SCO members follow these principles, he called for unhindered access to due share of water as per existing treaties among the SCO member states.
In the context of relations with neighbours, the Prime Minister said that Pakistan sought normal relations with all its neighbours and preferred dialogue and diplomacy over confrontation.
To ensure a lasting peace in South Asia, he called for a comprehensive and structured dialogue to discuss all outstanding disputes.
Condemning terrorism in all its forms and manifestations including state terrorism, he underlined that Pakistan had rendered great sacrifices in combatting terrorism for the regional and global stability.
He mentioned that Pakistan had irrefutable evidence of foreign involvement in the Jaffar Express train hostage incident and numerous other terror attacks in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.
The Prime Minister outlined the government’s economic transformation plan, that is founded on three pillars: expansion of trade, innovation and enhanced revenue generation.
The Prime Minister unequivocally denounced Israel’s inhuman military offensive against Gaza and heinous crimes against innocent Palestinians and called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and resolution of the dispute according to the United Nations Security Council resolutions.
He condemned attack on Iran, a fellow SCO member state.
Reiterating the negative implications of instability in Afghanistan on the development of entire SCO region, Prime Minister Sharif called for engagement with Afghanistan in a meaningful manner.
The Prime Minister highly praised SCO’s vision of regional connectivity and economic integration and underscored Pakistan’s strategic geographical location as an ideal trade and transit hub for the entire SCO region.
He said China-Pakistan Economic Corridor was a key initiative for achieving trans-regional economic and trade integration.
The Prime Minister also emphasized the importance of shared responsibility in the current climate crises whereby, underdeveloped countries like Pakistan are being constantly facing climate change induced disasters, even though their share in global emissions is less than only one per cent.
He stressed that the global leadership needs to shoulder the burden as further inaction will lead to more loss of lives and livelihoods.
He also emphasised Pakistan’s preference of dialogue over conflict and resolution of all disputes through peaceful means.
The Council of State Heads discussed important regional and international strategic political, security and economic issues, challenges and developments. The Council approved and adopted several decisions and statements in various areas of cooperation.
Besides adopting the Tianjin Declaration that outlines the views of SCO leadership on important regional and global issues of interest to the Organization, the CHS adopted statements of cooperation among SCO countries on: multilateral trading system; artificial intelligence; strengthening scientific, technical and innovative cooperation; green industry cooperation and others.
The Heads of State signed two agreements establishing two new permanent bodies of SCO i.e. Universal Center in Moscow and an Anti-Drug Center in Dushanbe. The Council also approved various plans and strategies for the ongoing cooperation in the economic and security fields. The SCO Development Strategy until 2035 was also adopted.
In his statement during the SCO CHS Plus meeting on the theme “”Promoting multilateralism a reality, ensuring regional security, and promoting sustainable development.”, Prime Minister Sharif stressed the need for multilateralism and respecting the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and resolution of disputes through peaceful means.
Expressing Pakistan’s firm belief in the promise and power of multilateralism, he advised to uphold dialogue, mutual respect and inclusive diplomacy.
He advocated that SCO must prioritize innovation-driven growth. He welcomed SCO’s commitment to cooperation in development and assured that Pakistan would contribute as a reliable partner.
The Prime Minister welcomed Laos People’s Democratic Republic as new Dialogue Partner of SCO.
On the sidelines of these summits, the Prime Minister had important bilateral meetings with the Presidents of SCO member States and Dialogue Partner States. Issues of mutual interest and matters relating to further strengthening political, economic and trade relations were discussed by the leaders.
Since becoming full member of SCO in 2017, Pakistan has actively and constructively participated in all SCO activities and mechanisms as well as extended all out cooperation towards achieving SCO’s multi-sectoral agenda. Pakistan hosted the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) meeting in Islamabad in 16-17 October last year.
The Council of Heads of State is the highest decision-making forum in SCO. It gives strategic, political and security direction to the organization. The SCO CHS adopts declarations, statements, and important decisions.