ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will travel to Saudi Arabia to attend the 2nd Joint Arab-Islamic Follow-Up Summit in the Kingdom on November 11.
This was confirmed by Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch during her weekly news briefing in Islamabad on Thursday.
She said that the summit, which will be held in Riyadh on Monday, will focus on the situation in the Middle East.
The summit is being convened at the initiative of the Saudi government to discuss Israel’s military atrocities in Gaza, as well as other current developments in the region.
Mumtaz Zahra Baloch stated that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will emphasize Pakistan’s firm support for Palestine.
This visit marks his second trip to the Kingdom in a matter of days.
He had visited Saudi Arabia last month and attended the 8th meeting of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) and held bilateral meetings with Saudi leadership.
“Heads of state, government officials, and senior representatives from Arab League and OIC [Organization of Islamic Cooperation] member countries are expected to participate in the summit,” she said adding “The prime minister will reiterate Pakistan’s full support for the Palestinian cause, calling for an immediate end to the genocide in Gaza.”
She said that Pakistan will also call for the provision of international protection for the Palestinian people and the establishment of an independent State of Palestine, with the borders of June 4, 1967, and Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
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On the sidelines of the summit, the spokesperson noted that the prime minister is expected to hold bilateral meetings with leaders from other Arab League and OIC member states.
Mumtaz Zahra Baloch also said that Pakistan welcomed the report by UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, in which she condemned Israel for pursuing a systematic agenda of forced displacement, destruction, and genocide in Gaza and the West Bank.
The health ministry in Gaza reported on Thursday that at least 43,479 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children, have been killed in the ongoing Israeli bombardment campaign in the besieged territory since October 7, 2023.
Pakistan’s Acting Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, Ambassador Usman Jadoon, today “strongly condemned” Israel’s attempts to dismantle the operations of the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
