Dar to reach Istanbul from Beijing on Saturday

ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Ishaq Dar will dash to Istanbul on Saturday next from Beijing upon the conclusion of a significant visit to China by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif with whom he will be part of his delegation.

Dar will lead Pakistan’s delegation in an extraordinary meeting of eight developing countries’ foreign ministers, which are also Muslim states, taking place on June 8 in Istanbul. The extraordinary meeting has been convened by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

Diplomatic sources told The News here on Monday that the meeting would discuss the horrible situation of Palestine. Dar is leaving today (Tuesday) for China, accompanying Shehbaz on a five-day visit. It is the maiden official visit by the prime minister to China while Dar visited China last month and had extensive discussions with Chinese leaders. The prime minister’s entourage will leave from Lahore.

Well-placed diplomatic sources are of the view that Dar’s tip to Istanbul would have conspicuous significance since he would avail the occasion to discuss subjects of bilateral interest with some of his participating counterparts on the brinks of the conference. The conference would also offer condolences on the tragic chopper crash of Iran in which Iran’s President Ibrahim Raisi, foreign minister and other dignitaries perished. The D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation, also known as Developing-8, is an organisation for development cooperation. Its members are Pakistan, Turkey, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia and Nigeria. Turkey is its current chair.

The sources pointed out that Dar would discuss the future prospectuses of economic cooperation between Pakistan and the countries of his interlocutors in course of discussions. He will be rushing to Islamabad from Istanbul immediately after the extraordinary meeting since he will have to lead the Senate here in its important session that would commence on 10th of this month.