Day: May 27, 2022

Islamabad, May 27, 2022 (PPI-OT):Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari offered condolences to the newly-elected President of the UAE, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Al-Nahyan family, the leadership and people of the UAE, on the demise of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, in Abu Dhabi today.

The Foreign Minister also offered condolences to other members of the Royal family and prayed for the strength and fortitude of the leadership and brotherly people of the UAE to bear the irreparable loss.

Lauding invaluable contributions of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa in strengthening bilateral ties between Pakistan and the UAE, the Foreign Minister grieved that Pakistan lost a sincere friend with his demise.

Paying respects to the life and legacy of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa, the Foreign Minister fondly recalled his services to the nation and country, which will forever remain etched in history. The Foreign Minister also conveyed best wishes to His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan upon assuming his responsibilities as the new President of the UAE.

For more information, contact:

PPP Media Cell (Sindh)

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)

Peoples Secretariat Shikarpur Colony,

Behind Mazar-e-Quaid-e-Azam, Karachi, Pakistan

Cell: +92-305-3370383

Email: contact@ppp-tu.com

Website: https://www.ppp.org.pk

Islamabad, May 27, 2022 (PPI-OT):

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my privilege to address this important Global COVID Summit today. I am indeed grateful to Belize, Germany, Indonesia, Senegal and the United States for inviting Pakistan to this august gathering.

The COVID pandemic upended our societies. Millions of precious lives were lost. Countless livelihoods were disrupted. It is a somber time for human civilization – a period to reflect on what truly matters.

With this realization, we fought this pandemic together with varying degrees of success. Twenty-six months since the onset of the pandemic, we are now well-positioned to draw lessons from the adequacy of global and national responses to this unparalleled health emergency.

And lessons we must draw to discuss and develop short and long-term solutions to this, as well as future health crises.

Firstly, any approach to deal with health crisis must be grounded firmly in scientific evidence and logic; responses, monitoring and evaluation should be guided by established methods of epidemiology and community medicine.

Pakistan’s response saw positive results despite our limited resources + capacity. We locked down very quickly, allowing our provincial and federal governments the space and time to set up the necessary infrastructure to combat this pandemic. We prioritized containment, limited geographically specific lockdown, vaccines and boosters. We shall continue to adopt standardized tools for enhanced access to new tests and treatments.

Secondly, our responses must be customized to the specific and peculiar needs of our societies. Every country and region will have to devise its own strategy. One-size-fits-all approach cannot be used to battle such pandemics. By way of example, China’s dynamic Zero-COVID approach, rooted in China’s realities, was particularly successful in eliminating the virus, saving countless lives and swift economic recovery.

Thirdly, international cooperation and coordination is of fundamental importance to the success of national efforts. Health security, especially in times of pandemic, is indivisible. Microorganisms do not recognize Nation-States. For them, we are all the same. To counter them, we must act as one.

I must acknowledge here the support we received from a number of countries and international organizations. The US was generous in providing 62 million vaccines to Pakistan. In addition, we appreciate your commitment to providing 64 million paediatric vaccines in addition to what we have already received.

And, of course, China, from the outset, supported us tremendously. Pakistan, too, provided COVID-related assistance to countries that needed it. In this context, it is also important to develop synergies with specialized agencies such as WHO, UNICEF, GAVI and COVAX.

Pakistan will continue to work closely with them to bolster our national response. We also intend to scale-up our capacities as one of the WHO spokes for mRNA technology and help expand vaccine supply to EMRO region and beyond.

Fourthly, the humanitarian principles must form the bedrock of national and international response to global pandemics. In such situations, I believe, a state needs to take care of its citizens like a mother takes care of her child.

I must salute all those doctors and health care providers who went beyond the call of their duty to help their fellow citizens. Many of them lost their own lives. Their spirits must serve as a beacon for national efforts.

And finally, some lessons on what we must not do. Finger-pointing! Politicking, both at national and international levels, profiteering and rumour-mongering, especially when it relates to undermining the scientific evidence and hard data.

I would like to end by emphasizing that the fight against COVID must promote international solidarity. It has been evidently clear in the last two years that our survival hinges on our ability to work together. Platforms like these should help forge greater unity among humanity so that the battle against this menace can be won decisively.

For more information, contact:

PPP Media Cell (Sindh)

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)

Peoples Secretariat Shikarpur Colony,

Behind Mazar-e-Quaid-e-Azam, Karachi, Pakistan

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Email: contact@ppp-tu.com

Website: https://www.ppp.org.pk

Islamabad, May 27, 2022 (PPI-OT):

Your Excellency

State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi,

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a pleasure to participate in this meeting of the Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative (GDI) launched by President Xi Jinping last September.

China and Pakistan are old and trusted friends. We enjoy an all-weather strategic cooperative partnership. Pakistan’s relationship with its iron brother will grow from strength to strength, including through the rapid implementation of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The people of Pakistan, greatly admire China’s unprecedented achievements in economic, social, technological, and industrial development.

Excellencies,

Pakistan has joined China’s GDI initiative. We believe it can make a significant contribution to the accelerated implementation of the globally agreed Sustainable Development Goals. This Group of Friends provides a useful platform to coordinate that work.

The people of the developing world presently confront multiple challenges due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change and geo-political developments. Their impact on the Global South is disproportionate and devastating.

Over a 150 million people have been pushed back into extreme poverty; 400 million jobs have been lost; prices of essential commodities have skyrocketed; the majority of the developing countries, especially the poorest and most vulnerable, face financial stress as well as food and energy insecurity. Progress in implementation of the SDGs has been reversed.

The GDI and this Group of Friends must address these imposing challenges and support emergency actions to:

One, ensure vaccine equity and universal coverage, and related health measures, to end the global Covid-19 pandemic;

Two, encourage expanded food production, revival of food supply chains, and mechanisms to moderate food prices especially for the poorest people;

Three, enhance energy production, remove supply constraints, and mitigate the impact of high energy prices for developing countries;

Four, promote larger public and private investment in sustainable infrastructure – energy, transport, housing, and agriculture – to stimulate growth and move towards a global “green” economy;

Five, promote and implement connectivity projects – such as CPEC and other BRI projects – to stimulate regional integration, trade and industrialization; and

Six, eliminate the “digital divide” and enable the developing countries to integrate into the emerging global digital economy.

The Group has already identified the key drivers of SDG implementation: finance, technology, and capacity-building.

Finance is critical. The multiple crises have enlarged the gap in financing for development. This Group must generate the political will to mobilize adequate global financing for the Sustainable Development Goals. Larger ODA and concessional finance must be provided by the advanced countries. At least half of the unutilized SDRs created recently should be re-allocated to the developing countries. The promise to provide at least $100 billion annually in climate financing must be fulfilled.

Access to technology is also vital. All discriminatory restraints on the transfer of technology for peaceful uses must be removed. The centers of learning, research, and development must remain open to all. Research, development, and innovation, and the global IP regime, should be aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals.

Development priorities should also focus on capacity-building in the developing countries, through universal and quality health and education, especially for women and girls to bridge the gender gap. Developing countries should be assisted to acquire the ability to prepare, finance, and execute viable sustainable development projects.

Excellencies,

I would suggest that the Group of Friends establish “work streams” in all the 8 priority areas under GDI. These work streams could identify the practical and specific actions required to implement the SDG in each of the priority areas.

Those could then be promoted through the numerous existing mechanisms available at the global, regional, and bilateral levels, including coherent and concentrated actions by the several UN development agencies and organizations.

For its part, Pakistan, apart from participating actively in the work of this GDI Group of Friends, will continue to enhance its cooperation with China through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to advance our national implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Excellencies,

Pakistan looks forward to working hand-in-hand with China and other members of the GDI Group of Friends to promote our common aspiration for a peaceful, prosperous and shared future for all of humankind.

I thank you.

For more information, contact:

PPP Media Cell (Sindh)

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)

Peoples Secretariat Shikarpur Colony,

Behind Mazar-e-Quaid-e-Azam, Karachi, Pakistan

Cell: +92-305-3370383

Email: contact@ppp-tu.com

Website: https://www.ppp.org.pk

Islamabad, May 27, 2022 (PPI-OT):At the invitation of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is visiting New York for the Ministerial meeting on “Global Food Security Call to Action” to be held at the United Nations on 18 May 2022.

The meeting will bring together a regionally diverse group of countries including those most affected by food insecurity and those in a position to take action to address it. Ministers will be invited to speak on humanitarian needs and longer-term development efforts required to save lives and build resilience for the future.

The Foreign Minister will also participate in the Open Debate of the UN Security Council on “Maintenance of International Peace and Security – Conflict and Food Security” under the U.S. Presidency of the Council on 19 May.

The Foreign Minister will highlight Pakistan’s perspective and policy priorities in the two meetings. While in New York, the Foreign Minister will have other important engagements on the sidelines, including a bilateral meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Pakistan will continue to play a proactive role in supporting the international efforts to advance the shared objectives of a peaceful and stable world free of conflict, and poverty and hunger.

For more information, contact:

PPP Media Cell (Sindh)

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)

Peoples Secretariat Shikarpur Colony,

Behind Mazar-e-Quaid-e-Azam, Karachi, Pakistan

Cell: +92-305-3370383

Email: contact@ppp-tu.com

Website: https://www.ppp.org.pk

Islamabad, May 27, 2022 (PPI-OT):Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari held virtual meeting with State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi today. State Councilor Wang Yi extended felicitations to the Foreign Minister on assumption of office. The two Foreign Ministers discussed bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest.

The Foreign Minister conveyed that Pakistan enjoyed unique and time-tested bonds with China and appreciated the measures taken by the two sides to strengthen the All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership between the two countries.

The Foreign Minister thanked his counterpart for China’s firm support to Pakistan’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence and national development, and reaffirmed Pakistan’s full support to China on all issues of its core interest.

The Foreign Minister underscored his determination to inject fresh momentum in the bilateral strategic cooperative partnership and add new avenues to practical cooperation. The Foreign Minister appreciated the transformational impact of CPEC on Pakistan’s infrastructure, energy, industrialization, socio-economic development and improvement in livelihoods of the people. He underlined that Pakistan was committed to high quality development of CPEC and looked forward to fast-tracking key projects and accelerating industrial relocation to Pakistan, especially in CPEC SEZs.

Condemning the terrorist attack in Karachi University in which three Chinese teachers lost their lives, the Foreign Minister underlined Pakistan’s firm resolve to apprehend the perpetrators and bring them to justice. He reiterated that Pakistan attached high importance to safety and security of Chinese projects, nationals and institutions in Pakistan.

The two Foreign Ministers also discussed the evolving situation in the region and beyond, in particular the dire humanitarian and economic situation in Afghanistan. The Foreign Minister also briefed on the gross human rights violations and serious situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi agreed to remain in close contact.

For more information, contact:

PPP Media Cell (Sindh)

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)

Peoples Secretariat Shikarpur Colony,

Behind Mazar-e-Quaid-e-Azam, Karachi, Pakistan

Cell: +92-305-3370383

Email: contact@ppp-tu.com

Website: https://www.ppp.org.pk