By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi Friday stressed the need to further enhance bilateral engagements with Brunei Darussalam at all levels, including the trade, business, investment and economic sectors.
The president, in a meeting with the outgoing High Commissioner of Brunei Darussalam Pengiran Abdul Samad bin Pengiran Haji Metasan, who called on him, highlighted that Pakistan was pursuing investor-friendly policies.
He hoped that investors from Brunei Darussalam would consider investing in Pakistan’s energy, agriculture and education sectors.
The president said that Pakistan and Brunei Darussalam had excellent bilateral relations which were rooted in shared values, religious commonalities and cooperative partnership. “Both the brotherly countries enjoy a deep level of trust and understanding on a range of issues, including Islamophobia, cooperation within the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and issues related to global peace”, he added.
He emphasised the need for bilateral cooperation in the field of agriculture for effective utilization of scarce water resources and to increase the productivity of vast agricultural land using sophisticated technology.
He further stated that Pakistan could offer training to Brunei’s diplomatic and military personnel.
The president also highlighted the gross human rights violations being committed by India in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), adding that the incidents of violence against Indian minorities, particularly against Muslims, had intensified under the Modi regime’s patronage.
He said that Pakistan was looking forward to the visit of Sultan of Brunei to Pakistan. He appreciated the efforts of the outgoing high commissioner for the betterment and strengthening of relations between the two brotherly countries. The president expressed the hope that the outgoing envoy would continue to work to further strengthen bilateral ties. Separately, President Dr Arif Alvi on Friday said Pakistan highly values its ties with the Republic of Poland and wanted to further expand bilateral relations in the areas of trade, economy, and people-to-people contacts.
The President made these remarks while talking to the Ambassador-designate of Pakistan to the Republic of Poland, Dr Khalid Hussain Memon, who called on him, at Aiwan-e-Sadr.
Talking to the Ambassador-designate, the President emphasised the need for further augmenting bilateral trade and economic relations by establishing Joint Business Forum and promoting cooperation with Polish companies in the energy sector. He asked the envoy to work on soliciting Poland’s continued support during the ongoing review process for the renewal of the GSP+ status of Pakistan. The President directed the Ambassador to highlight Pakistan’s rich potential for tourism to further enhance the influx of tourists and promote people-to-people contacts with the friendly country.
He added that the envoy should work for the establishment of institutional linkages between the Pakistani and Polish universities to cement relations in the field of education, which would help in improving the quality of education and research of Pakistani universities.
He also asked the Ambassador to work on increasing the export of Pakistani manpower to Poland.
The President congratulated the Ambassador-designate on his appointment as Pakistan’s Ambassador to Poland and expressed the hope that bilateral ties between the two countries would be further strengthened during his tenure.
