Dar assumes charge as FM, briefed on foreign policy

ISLAMABAD: Former finance minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar formally assumed the role of Pakistan’s 39th Minister for Foreign Affairs on Tuesday.

He was met on his arrival at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by Foreign Secretary Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi and senior officials of the Ministry.

According to the Foreign Office the foreign secretary called on Ishaq Dar in his office and later the foreign minister was briefed by the foreign secretary and additional secretaries on Pakistan’s Foreign Policy and priority areas. The visuals released by the Ministry showed the foreign minister addressing the senior diplomats for the first time, but his statement was not made public.

Sources say that Dar as expected, focused on the economy linking success of the country’s foreign policy with the country’s challenges. Linking economic success with the country’s foreign policy is not new.

Earlier former foreign minister Shah Mahmud Qureshi was of the view that “economic stability was essential for Pakistan so that it is taken seriously in foreign affairs. The world links its foreign policy to its economic interests.”

In the room full of male senior officials, there were two female diplomats as well, Spokeswoman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch and Ambassador Mariam Madiha Aftab, Additional Secretary Americas.