ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi will lead Pakistan’s delegation to the 47th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) being held in Niamey, Niger, on November 27 and 28, the Pakistani foreign office said on Wednesday.
Representatives of 57 OIC member states and five observers are expected to attend the meeting.
During the two-day session, the Council of Foreign Ministers will discuss a wide range of issues confronting the Muslim world with particular focus on “combating Islamophobia and defamation of the religions, Palestine, Jammu &Kashmir dispute, situation of Muslim communities and minorities in non-OIC states ... and various matters related to promotion of civilizational, cultural and religious dialogue.”
The council will also hold a brainstorming session on “Security and Humanitarian Challenges Confronting African Sahel States Members of the OIC,” the FO statement said.
During the visit, the Pakistani foreign minister will highlight rights violations in the disputed Kashmir region administered by India, and New Delhi’s decision last year to revoke the social autonomy of the region. Qureshi will also highlight rising incidents of “Islamophobia and hate speech against Muslims” and emphasize the need for unity in the Islamic world to combat these problems.
Pakistani foreign minister to lead delegation to OIC moot in Niger this week
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Pakistani foreign minister to lead delegation to OIC moot in Niger this week
- The Council of Foreign Ministers will be held in Niamey, Niger, on November 27 and 28
- Qureshi will discuss the Kashmir dispute with India and rising Islamophobia among other issues
Seven killed in southwest Pakistan as heavy rains continue to wreak havoc nationwide
- At least 33 people killed and 46 injured in various rain-related incidents in northwestern Pakistan
- Pakistan is ranked fifth most vulnerable country to climate change according to Global Climate Risk Index
QUETTA: Seven people including a woman were killed in southwestern Pakistan as rains continue to wreak havoc in the South Asian nation ranked as the fifth most vulnerable country to climate change according to the Global Climate Risk Index.
Heavy rains in the last three weeks have triggered landslides and flash floods in several parts of Pakistan.
On Thursday, seven people were killed in the southwestern Balochistan province, officials in the town of Chaman here the deaths took place said.
“In the first incident a car drove into flood waters in Mashan Talab situated on the outskirts of Chaman,” Deputy Commissioner Chaman Raja Atthar Abbas told Arab News.
“Five men sitting inside the vehicle drowned in flood water while two people including a woman were killed after a mud wall fell on them on College road.”
Torrential rains had caused “severe damage” in Chaman and its surrounding areas as dozens of mud house collapsed in the last two days of rains, Abbas added.
Separately, at least 33 people were killed and another 46 injured in various rain-related incidents in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province in the last six days, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said on Thursday.
Rains that began last Friday had completely destroyed 336 houses and partially damaged another 1,606 in different districts across the province, according to the PDMA.
The incidents occurred in Khyber, Upper and Lower Dir, Upper and Lower Chitral, Swat, Bajaur, Shangla, Karak, Tank, Mardan, Peshawar, Charsadda, Hangu, Battagram, Dera Ismail Khan and other districts.
“The deceased include 17 children, eight men, eight women, while the injured included 32 men, six women and eight children,” the PDMA said in its daily situation report on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the authority had warned of another spell of heavy rains in the province from April 17 till April 21, which could trigger landslides and flash floods.
In 2022, downpours swelled rivers and at one point flooded a third of Pakistan, killing 1,739 people. The floods also caused $30 billion in damages, from which Pakistan is still trying to rebuild.
Amir returns to international cricket as New Zealand bat in first T20I
- Amir retired in December 2020 after being dropped from the side but changed his mind last month
- Fast bowler decided to restart his career, which had also been stalled by a match-fixing ban in 2010
RAWALPINDI: Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Amir returns to international cricket from an absence of almost four years after New Zealand won the toss in their rain-delayed first Twenty20 in Rawalpindi on Thursday.
The 32-year-old retired in December 2020 after being dropped from the side but changed his mind last month and decided to restart his career, which had also been stalled by a match-fixing ban in 2010.
Pakistan have handed T20I debuts to batter Usman Khan, spinner Abrar Ahmed and allrounder Muhammad Irfan Khan to gauge their bench strength ahead of June’s World Cup in the United States and the West Indies.
New Zealand, missing nine players due to the Indian Premier League, handed a T20I debut to batter Tim Robinson.
The remaining matches are in Rawalpindi on April 20 and 21 and in Lahore on April 25 and 27.
Teams:
Pakistan: Babar Azam (captain), Usman Khan, Abrar Ahmed, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Amir, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi
New Zealand: Michael Bracewell (captain), Mark Chapman, Josh Clarkson, Jacob Duffy, Dean Foxcroft, Ben Lister, Jimmy Neesham, Tim Robinson, Ben Sears, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi
Umpires: Ahsan Raza (PAK) and Aleem Dar (PAK)
Tv umpire: Faisal Afridi (PAK)
Match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)
US says Pakistan’s prosperity and security remains a ‘top priority’
- Blome’s comments come amid a spike in militant attacks in Pakistan
- Pakistani finance chief has launched negotiations for a new IMF bailout
ISLAMABAD: US Ambassador Donald Blome met Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday and said the South Asian nation’s prosperity and security remained a ‘top priority’ for Washington.
Blome’s comments come amid a spike in militant attacks in Pakistan and while its finance chief is in discussions with the International Monetary Fund in Washington on a potential follow-up program to its nine-month, $3 billion stand-by arrangement.
“US Ambassador Donald Blome met today with Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar to discuss recent events in the region,” Acting US Mission Spokesperson Thomas Montgomery said.
“Ambassador Blome conveyed the United States’ commitment to working with the government and people of Pakistan, underscoring that prosperity and security for Pakistan remains a top priority for the United States.”
Pakistan went to the polls on February 8 in a vote marred by a mobile Internet shutdown on election day, arrests and violence in its build-up and unusually delayed results, leading to accusations that the vote was rigged.
However, the US has repeatedly said it will work with the new government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, though it has expressed concerns about reported election irregularities and urged a probe.
Although defense and key foreign policy decisions are largely influenced by Pakistan’s powerful military, Sharif will have to juggle relations with the US and China.
Islamabad has close economic ties to both the nations, which has put it in a tricky position as the two countries have embarked upon a costly trade war.
“From our perspective it has to be an and-and discussion,” finance minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said in an interview this week when asked how the Sharif government plans to conduct its trading relationships with the world’s two largest economies.
“US is our largest trading partner, and it has always supported us, always helped us in terms of the investments,” he said. “So that is always going to be a very, very critical relationship for Pakistan.”
“On the other side, a lot of investment, especially in infrastructure, came through CPEC,” he said, referring to the roughly 1,860-mile-long China-Pakistan Economic Corridor designed to give China access to the Arabian Sea.
Aurangzeb said there was a “very good opportunity” for Pakistan to play a similar role in the trade war as countries like Vietnam, which has been able to dramatically boost its exports to the US following the imposition of tariffs on some Chinese goods.
“We have already a few examples of that already working,” he said. “But what we need to do is to really scale it up.”
Militancy has also spiked in recent months, creating a major challenge for the new government, with religiously motivated groups like the Pakistani Taliban as well as ethnic separatists showing an enhanced ability to hit high-value targets.
In an attack last month that has so far been unclaimed, a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle into a convoy of Chinese engineers working on a hydropower project at Dasu in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killing five Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver.
The Mar. 26 assault was the third major attack in little over a week on China’s interests in the South Asian nation, where Beijing has invested more than $65 billion in infrastructure projects as part of its wider Belt and Road initiative.
Central bank chief briefs foreign investors on ‘substantial improvement’ in Pakistan’s macroeconomic outlook
- Ahmad is accompanying Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb to IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington
- Meets investors during multiple events organized by leading financial firms, including JP Morgan, Citibank and Jefferies
ISLAMABAD: State Bank Governor Jameel Ahmad on Thursday met key international investors in the United States capital, Washington DC, and informed them about “substantial improvement” in Pakistan’s macroeconomic outlook in the last year.
Ahmad is accompanying Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb to IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington, where he met investors during multiple events organized by leading global banks and financial firms, including JP Morgan, Citibank and Jefferies.
While in DC, the Pakistan team will also be starting negotiations for a new three-year multi-billion-dollar bailout deal from the IMF.
“Governor SBP informed the participants about the substantial improvement in Pakistan’s macroeconomic outlook achieved over the past year as a result of a prudent monetary policy, backed adequately by fiscal consolidation and beginning of the implementation of key structural reforms,” a statement from the Pakistani economic affairs division said.
Inflation declined sharply in Pakistan, reaching a two-year low of 20.7 percent in March 2024 from a peak of 38 percent in May 2023.
“Deceleration in inflation is broad-based, reflecting the combined impact of monetary tightening, fiscal consolidation, ease in import supplies, improved agriculture output and base effect,” Ahmad told investors.
“More importantly, core inflation declined markedly, reaching 15.7 percent in March, after persistently staying above 20 percent throughout last year.”
He also said the external sector had stabilized, as reflected in a sharp reduction in the current account deficit (CAD) to $1 billion during Jul-Feb FY24 from $3.8 billion in the same period last year.
In addition to stabilization policies, improved agriculture output had contributed to higher food exports, while lowering the import demand of agri commodities like wheat and cotton.
Workers’ remittances had also risen consistently since October 2023 on a year-on-year basis, driven by incentives and regulatory measures to divert inflows toward formal channels.
“These qualitative improvements in the external account have allowed the SBP to more than double its FX reserves from January 2023 ($3.1 billion) to around $8 billion on 12 April 2024 despite the repayment of a $1 billion Eurobond on the same day. At the same time, the SBP’s forward liabilities have also reduced significantly from $5.7billion in January 2023 to $ 3.4billion in February 2024.”
Ahmad also spoke about the improvement in the country’s external debt dynamics, with a reduction in the gross financing requirements due to sizable CAD contraction. Moreover, the maturity profile of external debt had also improved, with the share of relatively costly short-term commercial loans declining while the share of long term concessional financing from multilateral agencies, coupled with support from bilateral partners, which was rising.
“Ahmad also noted a recent pickup in inflows from overseas Pakistanis via Roshan Digital Accounts and also by other foreign investors, on the back of strong performance in achieving the targets and benchmarks under the IMF SBA program,” the statement said.
“Going forward, the government is hopeful of signing a long term IMF program, which will facilitate additional external financing and the adoption of structural reforms to deal with longstanding issues in the economy.”
The governor also highlighted SBP’s efforts to provide a conducive macroeconomic environment for the private sector to invest in the economy.
The SBP’s Strategic Plan 2028 aims to facilitate growth by achieving price and financial stability.
“In this regard, Mr. Ahmad highlighted the widespread adoption of digital technologies to address gaps in access to financial services and to revolutionize the domestic payments system,” the economic affairs division said. “These time-bound reforms are expected to put the economy on the path of sustainable economic growth.”
Pakistan has pitched ‘epic menu’ of $30 billion investment projects to Riyadh — foreign minister
- Ishaq Dar says Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will visit Pakistan for three days from April 22-25
- Says Saudi crown prince has accepted PM’s invitation to visit Pakistan, timing being discussed
ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Thursday Pakistan had pitched an “epic menu” of investment projects worth $30 billion to Saudi Arabia during a visit this week by the Kingdom’s foreign chief, adding that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi would visit Islamabad from April 22-25.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud was in Islamabad earlier this week where he said Riyadh would be “moving ahead significantly” to invest in projects in the South Asian nation. His visit followed a meeting in Makkah between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in which the Kingdom had pledged to expedite $5 billion in investments.
Speaking to journalists at an informal meet-and-greet on Thursday afternoon, Dar said Pakistan had pitched projects worth $30 billion to the Saudi delegation, which would “take time” to materialize.
“It’s a process, it doesn’t happen overnight,” the foreign minister said. “We have given them a big epic menu to select [from]. After that their expression of interest has been indicated. On that, we will get details on [April] 28, so it takes time. But all vibes are very positive.”
Dar said PM Sharif had invited the Saudi crown prince to visit Pakistan during their meeting in Makkah earlier this month:
“He has very kindly accepted the invitation. The timing of the visit will obviously be sorted out between diplomatic channels of the two countries.”
Responding to a question about a planned visit by Iran’s Raisi to Pakistan, Dar said it had been in the works for “weeks and months.”
“He is coming. The visit is on the cards on 22, 23, 24 [April] and we are preparing fully for this.”
Dar also said Afghan Interim Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi had invited him to visit Afghan when the two leaders spoke on the telephone last month.
No country has recognized Taliban rule since they seized power in August 2021, after the Western-backed government collapsed as the last US-led international troops departed following two decades of war.
When asked if he would accept Muttaqi’s invitation to visit Kabul, Dar responded:
“By not interacting we will achieve nothing … so my own fundamental thinking is this, but obviously it [visit] is subject to clearance by the prime minister and MOFA [ministry of foreign affairs] advice that at the appropriate time we will definitely visit.”
Dar also spoke about tensions in the Middle East as the Israeli military has pledged a response to Iran’s retaliatory strikes last week for a suspected Israeli airstrike on its embassy compound in Damascus on April 1.
Israel and its allies mostly shot down all missiles and drones and there were no deaths, but Israel says it must retaliate to preserve the credibility of its deterrents. Iran says it views the matter as closed but will retaliate again if Israel does.
“Our policy guidelines are about peace, we don’t want any confrontation, we want a peaceful resolution, we want a Gaza solution as soon as possible,” Dar said when asked about the possibility of escalation.
“We want a ceasefire in Gaza, we want a Palestinian permanent state.”
