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Pakistan eying new direction to benefit from Asian
markets: FM
Multan—Foreign minister Makhdoom Shah Mehmood
Qureshi said on Sunday that country was in the process of heading
towards a new direction under his ‘Look-East’ vision of economic
diplomacy aimed at strengthening bilateral trade ties with Asian
countries.
While addressing a press conference at the local circuit house, the
foreign minister identified worsening economic situation as an
internal threat and promised relentless efforts to address thorny
issues of trade deficit and others to help Pakistan survive amid
challenging competitive environment.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi said, Pakistan attaches greater importance to
friendly ties with the West and the US which is a strong military
and economic power.
He, however, added that attention must also be paid to the Asian
countries which are registering phenomenal growth amid global
phenomenon of recession, inflation and unemployment.
He said that Asian countries were growing at the rate of 11-12
percent amid global challenging environment. Naming countries like
China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, and others, he said that Pakistan
must learn from these success stories and promote bilateral trade
ties with them and all others to accrue benefits.
He said that bilateral trade ties will gradually become the
foundation for relations among the countries instead of political or
ideological links in the days to come. The foreign minister said:
“We are trying to take a new direction.”
He said, Pakistan enjoys time-tested friendly ties with China but
added that bilateral trade relations with China needed to be
expanded and strengthened further.
China is rich in technology and resources and is willing to offer
concessional credit to Pakistan for our development.
“Our foreign policy is based on maintaining friendly ties with all
countries particularly the neighbouring countries.”
To a question, Shah Mehmood said that foreign office and ambassadors
were doing a good job despite difficulties and limited resources.
“But, it does not mean there is no room for improvement.”
When asked about measures to improve the performance of commercial
attaches and counsellors, he said that it also involves the
ministries of commerce, and finance, but promised that commercial
attaches will be given targets to enhance Pakistani products export.
To a question on human smuggling, he said that government will look
into the matter thoroughly to find out lacunae and will amend the
law if needed to check it. He, however, also appealed the people to
avail services of only the established and licensed agencies for
going abroad for jobs.—APP
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