Zubair Qureshi
Ambassador of the Republic of Poland, Maciej Pisarski Friday evening, hosted a New Year and Christmas Party for the media persons, both from the print and the electronic media.
The reception was hosted at his residence in the Diplomatic Enclave and was attended by senior journalists and analysts who shared their views frankly with the ambassador.
Though it was an informal gathering and the ambassador exchanged pleasantries with the journalist friends yet the conversation ultimately narrowed down to the current political scenario, particularly the upcoming elections, question of ‘level playing field’ for all the political parties and the economic situation of the country.
There were voices in support of as well as opposition to the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision earlier in the day of stripping the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) of its election symbol ‘the cricket bat.’ Majority of the guests criticized the ECP’s decision. Similarly, the Supreme Court’s decision to grant bail to the PTI Chairman and former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his top ally Vice Chairman of the Party, Shah MahmoodQureshi was also hailed.
The host of the evening, Ambassador MaciejPisarski however, reserved his opinion saying it was Pakistan’s internal matter and hoped everything would be sorted out. In his brief welcome address, the Polish ambassador termed the bilateral relations with Pakistan on the right track. “We are here in Pakistan of course to develop Polish-Pakistan cooperation and the year 2023 was a good year in this regard,” he said. Our bilateral agenda concentrated on economic cooperation, political and military dialogue and the development of people-to-people relations during the last six decades, he said.
“The presence of our gas company in Pakistan has also been very successful in the outgoing year, 2023, said the ambassador adding, the Polish oil and gas exploration companies had invested millions of dollars in Pakistan during the last 25 years.
The Polish companies have invested $300 million in gas exploration and they are willing to do more, he said adding they are looking forward to extend their participation in Pakistan. The ambassador noted with pleasure that the economic crisis Pakistan faced in the recent past has been evaded a little bit and the country is heading towards financial stability. About the international scenario, he said conflicts in Ukraine and Middle East continued to pose serious challenge to the global peace and security.
