—– Holds bilateral talks with his Russian counterpart on the sidelines
—– Assures Sergei Lavrov of deepening Energy cooperation
—– PM says participation in CFM reflects Pakistan’s commitment to SCO charter
—– Qureshi sees Bilawal’s India visit ‘a real opportunity’ to raise bilateral issues
By Our Diplomatic Correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto arrived in India to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Or-ganization’s Council of Foreign Ministers meeting. The foreign minister was received at the airport by senior officials of the Indian foreign ministry.
Bilawal is attending the SCO CFM meeting at the invitation of the current Chair of SCO CFM, Dr S. Jaishankar, Minister for External Affairs of India.
In a statement, Pakistan’s Foreign Office added that Islamabad’s participation in the two-day meeting reflects Paki-stan’s commitment to the SCO charter, processes and the importance that Islamabad accords to the region in its for-eign policy priorities.
“My participation gives a clear message that how Pakistan shows importance to the SCO and how seriously it takes its membership,” the foreign minister said in a video message before his departure.
He said his decision to attend this meeting illustrated Pakistan’s strong commitment to the charter of SCO. “During my visit, which is focused exclusively on the SCO, I look forward to constructive discussions with my counterparts from friendly countries,” the foreign minister said in a tweet.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari met his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, on sidelines of SCO CFMs meeting in the Indian city of Goa on Thursday, said FO.
According to the FO, the two foreign ministers discussed bilateral, regional and international matters of mutual inter-est and assured each other of working closely to further deepen cooperation between their countries in the areas of food security, energy and people-to-people contact.
“The SCO opens new vistas of cooperation and coordination with Russia,” the FO statement said.
Later, the FO said that FM Bilawal also held a meeting with SCO Secretary General Zhang Ming and briefed him on “ac-tivities of the SCO in pursuance of the vision of SCO leadership”.
“The secretary general thanked the foreign minister for Pakistan’s consistent support to the SCO and appreciated its constructive contributions towards strengthening regular cooperation, connectivity, peace and prosperity,” it added.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that Pakistan’s decision to attend the SCO meet reflected the coun-try’s commitment to the organisation’s charter and multilateralism.
“We are committed to playing our part to advance our shared values of peace and stability in the region. We are all for win-win understandings based on connectivity, trade and mutually advantageous cooperation,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bilawal’s predecessor Shah Mahmood Qureshi stated that the SCO was an important forum which Paki-stan should make use of.
Speaking to the media outside the Islamabad High Court, he said: “Pakistan is a member of the SCO and the SCO is an important forum. If we want Eurasian political, economic and security integration then this is an important forum.”
He said Pakistan should make use of the forum in order to improve the region. “So if he (Bilawal) has gone for a multi-lateral forum, in my eyes there is no harm,” he said.
However, PTI’s Fawad Chaudhry “strongly” condemned Bilawal’s visit. “Participation would have been possible on vid-eo but [the] problem is you people in love of Modi are ready to disregard atrocities committed by Modi janta in Kash-mir, and hardships Muslims of India and minorities to make Modi janta happy,” he said, adding that Pakistan’s foreign policy was “dead by all definitions of the word”.
