By Uzma Zafar
ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Monday called for increasing cooperation with all friendly countries in the areas of trade, economy, culture and defence.
He emphasized the need for enhanced engagements with the friendly countries at political, economic and cultural levels to further expand cooperation with them for mutual benefit. The President made these remarks while talking to resident Ambassadors-designate of Uzbekistan, Cuba, Vietnam, Bulgaria and Argentina, who separately called on him here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.
Earlier, the Ambassador-designate of Uzbekistan to Pakistan Oybek Uzmanov, Ambassador-designate of Cuba to Pakistan Javier Caro González, Ambassador-designate of Vietnam to Pakistan Nguyen Tien Phong, Ambassador-designate of Bulgaria to Pakistan Ms. Irena Genadieva Gancheva, and Ambassador-designate of Argentina to Pakistan Leopoldo Francisco Sahores presented their credentials to the President at a ceremony.
Congratulating the newly-appointed Ambassadors, the President expressed the hope that they would play their role in further strengthening political, commercial and cultural relations with Pakistan. While talking to the envoys separately, the President said that Pakistan wanted to work closely with the friendly countries to address various challenges being faced by the world.
He briefed the envoys about the successful economic policies of the government, saying that Pakistan’s economy was performing well despite the Covid-19 pandemic. The President apprised the envoys that Pakistan offered investment opportunities and the world should take benefit of business-friendly environment by investing in different sectors of economy.
He underscored that since Pakistan’s main emphasis had shifted from geo-political to geo-economics, it was focusing on improving regional connectivity and economic integration. The President also highlighted the brutalities committed by Indian security forces against innocent people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
He urged the international community to play active role to stop India from committing human rights violations and grant the right of self-determination to the people of IIOJK in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolutions.
