Zubair Qureshi
Ambassador of Indonesia Iwan S Amri is all praise for the Pakistan govt, PIA, aviation ministry and the people of Pakistan for extending cooperation with the embassy in making possible repatriation of the Indonesian nationals (128), majority of them members of Tableeghi Jamaat back to Indonesia.
“The way the Pakistani people hosted and facilitated their Indonesian brothers speaks volumes about the deep people-to-people ties between the two nations,” said Ambassador Amri while speaking at a webinar the embassy of Indonesia organized for media persons on Wednesday.
The virtual conference or the webinar was attended by noted journalists not only from Islamabad but also from Lahore, Karachi and other cities of the country.
Cultural Counsellor of the Embassy Deny Tri Basuki, senior members of the Indonesian embassy were also present on the occasion.
Ambassador Amri briefed the media persons about the efforts the Indonesian government was making in reviving its tourism industry which is the backbone of the country’s economy from the onslaught of Covid-19.
Indonesia’s economy is also adversely affected because of the pandemic he said adding, “at present we are also implementing a smart lockdown policy like Pakistan.” The nature and severity of the lockdown varies from area to are depending upon the risk and prevalence of Covid-19, he said.
He praised the Pakistani doctors, nurses and health workers for controlling coronavirus to a considerable extent and commended the government’s decision of keeping daily wage workers, and low income population in mind during the pandemic. The Pakistan government has taken laudable steps under Ehsas relief package for the financial support to those millions of people and families who have been adversely affected or rendered jobless during the pandemic, said the ambassador.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) also arranged a couple of briefings for the diplomatic corps on Ehsas Relief package for the poverty-stricken classes and the ambassador mentioned it in his online address.
About the trade and business cooperation between the Indonesian chambers and the Rawalpindi, Gujrat and Karachi chambers, the ambassador was quite optimistic and said that a number of items have been added both in imports and exports lists in the bilateral trade.
Pakistan’s trade deficit is down despite Covid-19 from 33% to 27% that shows its economy is being taken care of and the government’s policy is in the right direction, said the Ambassador. He also expressed his satisfaction over the security situation in Islamabad and told that MoFA had been updating the Diplomatic Corps on the day-to-day situation.
