Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi asserted on Friday that the government’s decision to go ahead with the recently concluded Moscow visit was correct, explaining that there had been a shift in the country’s foreign policy towards geoeconomics, which warranted progress on regional connectivity.
“If we have to move towards geo-economics, a natural conclusion for this [to happen] is to make progress on [developing] regional connectivity [with] Afghanistan and beyond Afghanistan into Central Asian republics.
And if we have to move towards regional connectivity, then Russia has an historical role in this region,” he said while addressing a press conference in Islamabad.
“Russia being onboard will fortify our [shift in] focus towards geo-economic regional connectivity.” The foreign minister said this and several other factors were considered before it was decided to go ahead with the Moscow visit.
“We went ahead and I am convinced after this visit that we did the right thing in going ahead,” he added. Addressing the matter, Qureshi told media persons the before Prime Minister Imran Khan left for Moscow along with a delegation of ministers, he had presided over a meeting to analyse the evolving conflict.
He said the current foreign secretary and four former foreign secretaries, former ambassadors, including those who served in Moscow, and other senior officials were present at the meeting.
