ISLAMABAD: Hungary’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Péter Szijjártó, arrived in Islamabad on Thursday with a high-level delegation to explore business opportunities in the country, Pakistan’s foreign office said.
Szijjártó is touring the country on Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar’s invitation, with the two officials scheduled to hold delegation-level talks after one-on-one discussions.
“Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Peter Szijjarto has arrived in Islamabad,” the foreign office said. “He was received at the airport by Muhammad Ayyub, Additional Secretary Europe, Ambassador of Hungary, and other senior officials.”
The foreign office said a day earlier the focus of the two governments was to deepen collaboration in the economic, trade, energy and investment sectors.
It also informed that a number of memoranda of understanding (MoUs) and an agreement on cooperation in the fields of culture (2025–2027), archaeology and cultural heritage, and the abolition of visas for holders of diplomatic passports will be signed between the two countries on the occasion.
“This would be FM Szijjártó’s second visit to Pakistan, aimed at lending positive impetus to enhanced bilateral cooperation and mutually rewarding economic partnership,” the statement said.
Pakistan enjoys cordial relations with Hungary, and this year Islamabad will mark 60 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations with the country.
The two countries enjoy cooperation in energy, with Hungarian oil and gas company MOL Group actively investing in Pakistan’s oil and gas exploration sector since the early 2000s.
MOL Pakistan has invested heavily in exploration and production, especially in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Pakistan has pursued agreements in trade, energy, tourism, livestock, mining and minerals, and other priority sectors with regional allies and Gulf countries in recent months. Islamabad hopes to attract foreign investment in its priority sectors to achieve sustainable growth.
Pakistan formed the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) in June 2023 to attract international investment in these sectors, mainly from Gulf countries. The SIFC says it aims to fast-track decisions related to investments.
Hungarian FM arrives in Islamabad with high-level delegation to explore business opportunities
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Hungarian FM arrives in Islamabad with high-level delegation to explore business opportunities
- Pakistan and Hungary are expected to sign agreements on culture, heritage and visas during the visit
- Pakistan says the two governments want enhanced economic, trade, energy and investment relations
Pakistan, seven Muslim nations back Palestinian technocratic body, stress Gaza-West Bank unity
- The National Committee for the Administration of the Gaza Strip was announced on January 14
- Muslim nations call for consolidation of the ceasefire and unimpeded humanitarian aid into Gaza
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and seven other Muslim-majority countries on Thursday welcomed the formation of a temporary Palestinian technocratic body to administer Gaza, stressing that it must manage daily civilian affairs while preserving the institutional and territorial link between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank amid the ongoing peace efforts.
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Türkiye, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates said the newly announced National Committee for the Administration of the Gaza Strip would play a central role during the second phase of a broader peace plan aimed at ending the war and paving the way for Palestinian self-governance.
“The Ministers emphasize the importance of the National Committee commencing its duties in managing the day-to-day affairs of the people of Gaza, while preserving the institutional and territorial link between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, ensuring the unity of Gaza, and rejecting any attempts to divide it,” the statement said.
The committee, announced on Jan. 14, is a temporary transitional body established under United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803 and is to operate in coordination with the Palestinian Authority, the ministers said.
The statement said the move forms part of the second phase of US President Donald Trump’s Comprehensive Peace Plan for Gaza, which the ministers said they supported, praising Trump’s efforts to end the war, ensure the withdrawal of Israeli forces and prevent the annexation of the occupied West Bank.
The top leaders of all eight Muslim countries attended a meeting with Trump in New York last September, shortly before he unveiled the Gaza peace plan.
The ministers also called for the consolidation of the ceasefire, unimpeded humanitarian aid into Gaza, early recovery and reconstruction and the eventual return of the Palestinian Authority to administer the territory, leading to a just and sustainable peace based on UN resolutions and a two-state solution on pre-1967 lines with East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.
