ISLAMABAD, Jun 16 (APP): Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi Wednesday urged Pakistan’s envoys in European countries to strive for cultivating and broadening mutually beneficial trade and economic partnerships with Europe.
The foreign minister, chairing a virtual meeting on Economic Diplomacy as part of government’s relevant efforts, said the envoys should focus on trade promotion, financial inflows, investments, remittances, tourism and technology transfer.
The meeting was attended by Pakistan’s envoys to Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
While underscoring the growing significance of geo-economics in international politics, the foreign minister stated that Economic Diplomacy had assumed center stage in modern diplomatic practice.
He viewed that the foreign ministry and the Pakistan’s missions were pivotal in the successful implementation of the government’s initiatives like the Prime Minister’s ‘Global Initiative on Debt Relief’ for developing countries, Economic Outreach Initiative (EOI), and the Roshan Digital Account Initiative.
Qureshi further emphasized the need to constructively engage with parliamentarians in Europe with a view to maximizing avenues of economic outreach and collaboration.
Foreign Minister Qureshi also instructed the envoys to work on removing bottlenecks that hindered expansion of economic collaboration with host countries and identifying new sectors for promotion of economic cooperation with Europe.
In order to expand Pakistan’s economic outreach to Europe and to maximize trade gains under the GSP Plus Scheme, the foreign minister emphasized the need for diversification of exports.
The foreign minister asked envoys to showcase the investment potential of the country. He shared that Pakistan’s ranking in Ease of Doing Business had significantly improved as Pakistan had secured 6th place among the world’s top 10 business climate improvers.
During the meeting, the envoys apprised the foreign minister about their respective Mission’s activities in the economic and commercial domains.
They also shared their action plans to deepen Pakistan’s economic footprint in Europe.