During the conversation on Friday, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and ECO Chief Hadi Soleimanpour exchanged views over matters relating to ECO’s vision, response to Covid-19, ECO’s projects for enhanced economic cooperation and connectivity, and developments in the region, According to Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry.
Pakistan, being one of the founding members of ECO, has been at the forefront of efforts to transform this multilateral platform into a formidable economic bloc and effective instrument of regional economic cooperation.
The foreign minister reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to ECO and its processes and assured the secretary-general of his full support for greater integration and enhanced cooperation between the ECO members states in line with ECO Vision 2025.
He also apprised the ECO Secretary General of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s call for “Global Initiative on Debt Relief” for developing countries. He stated that coordinated and comprehensive actions were essential to creating fiscal space needed by the developing world to deal with the socio-economic impacts of Covid-19.
The Qureshi extended Pakistan’s support for early convening of ECO Health Ministers’ virtual conference to chalk out a comprehensive regional response to COVID-19 threat.
The foreign minister also highlighted Pakistan’s efforts to facilitate the Afghan peace process.
The ECO secretary-general, for his part, condemned the Karachi Stock Exchange terrorist attack and extended condolences over the loss of precious lives. Appreciating Pakistan’s active role in ECO as a founding member, he updated the Pakistani foreign minister on ECO’s different initiatives to advance the objectives of socio-economic development and regional integration.
The Foreign Minister and Secretary General Hadi Soleimanpour agreed to remain in touch to take forward the shared goals of Pakistan and ECO.
MNA/PR