ISLAMABAD: Interim Prime Minister Anwaar ul Haq Kakar will address the annual session of the UN General Assembly on September 22.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said at Thursday’s weekly press conference in Islamabad that the Prime Minister will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani during his visit to New York.
The spokesman said the prime minister would outline Pakistan’s perspective on a number of regional and global issues, including the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, which is among the long-standing UN agenda items, in his address to the UN General Assembly.
The Prime Minister will detail the significant measures taken by the Interim Government to consolidate Pakistan’s economic recovery and efforts to mobilize domestic and foreign investment.
Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said the Prime Minister will also attend the Summit on Sustainable Development Goals and other high-level meetings to be held under the auspices of the UN General Assembly.
She said this will provide valuable platforms for considering the effective measures required at the global level to address the most pressing economic and development challenges facing the Global South as a result of Covid-19, geopolitical contests and climate change.
The spokesman said that on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, the prime minister will also hold bilateral meetings with counterparts from different countries, as well as heads of international organizations, philanthropic organizations and corporate leaders.
He will also have the opportunity to interact with other heads of state and government attending the UN General Assembly. The Prime Minister will also communicate with the international media.
Responding to a question, the spokesperson said that Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognized disputed territory, the final settlement of which is to be done in accordance with the relevant resolutions and aspirations of the Kashmiri people of the UN Security Council.
She said it is also an established fact that Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan shown on the Indian map are under the control of Pakistan and are part of its official political map until the final decision of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. In this regard, it said that any map showing the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir as part of India is legally unsustainable and factually incorrect. She hoped that our international partners would pay due attention to these facts.
Asked about the Pakistan-Afghanistan Transit Trade Agreement, the spokesman said Pakistan was implementing it in good faith. We have made it easier for our landlocked neighbor to access the world in terms of trade and we will continue to do so.
However, she said that Pakistan has some concerns about the abuse of the transit trade agreement, which we will discuss with the Afghan authorities to ensure that these practices do not continue.
The spokesman said Pakistan was concerned about the security threat emanating from Afghanistan. She said it was important for the interim Afghan government to ensure that their territory was not used against Pakistan.
