Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Friday stressed the need for increasing cooperation among Islamic countries to overcome the issue of Islamophobia in the world. The president, in a meeting with outgoing Ambassador of Tajikistan to Pakistan Ismatullo Nasredin, who paid a farewell call on him, emphasized greater cooperation among the OIC member states in the areas of science and technology to meet modern-day challenges.
He said that Pakistan attached great significance to its relations with Tajikistan as it was Pakistan’s closest Central Asian neighbour. He highlighted that there was great potential to increase bilateral trade and economic cooperation that needed to be fully exploited. He called for exploring new avenues of economic cooperation for the mutual benefit of the two brotherly countries. President Alvi expressed satisfaction over the steadily expanding bilateral relations between Pakistan and Tajikistan in all areas of mutual interest, especially in trade, energy and defence.
Taking about the situation in Gaza, the president said that Pakistan deeply shared the pain of the people in Gaza where Israeli forces had been committing genocide and gross human rights violations. He regretted that the international community had failed to stop the Israeli atrocities, despite the painful imagery coming out of Gaza.
The president congratulated the outgoing ambassador on the successful completion of his tenure in Islamabad and appreciated his efforts for the promotion of friendly relations between Pakistan and Tajikistan.
Earlier, President Dr. Arif Alvi has promulgated the Apostille Ordinance 2024, waiving attestation of foreign public documents.
The Ordinance has been issued to facilitate the citizens in Pakistan and the Diaspora abroad and to fulfill Pakistan’s obligations under the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (Apostille Convention) of 1961.
The Apostille Convention facilitates the use of public documents abroad by waiving the traditional requirement of multiple legalizations/attestations.
The President promulgated the Ordinance, on the advice of the Prime Minister, in terms of Article 89 (1) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
