In continuation of Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts with a focus on the necessity of lifting US anti-Iran sanctions, Pakistan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Sun. held phone conversations with some of his counterparts in SAARC member states.
Pakistan Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Sun. and announced, “Shah Mahmood Qureshi held separate phone conversations with the foreign ministers of Nepal and Sri Lanka and reviewed the latest situation over the outbreak of coronavirus and emphasized the need for strengthening regional efforts to overcome this crisis.”
In this statement, Pakistan’s foreign minister stressed that lifting anti-Iran sanctions to combat coronavirus and eliminating COVID-19 global pandemic is ‘inevitable’.
He also urged leaders of the developed countries to reconsider the foreign debts of developing countries and empower these countries to use their minimum financial resources in the fight against coronavirus.
He also emphasized the need for activation of SAARC to confront coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, and added, “Pakistan is ready to host health ministerial meeting and welcomes organizing the meeting via videoconferencing to find ways to confront the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is the regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union of states in South Asia. Its member states are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
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