Pak FM, envoys discuss foreign policy priorities for 2025

ISLAMABAD: During a meeting with Pakistan’s envoys from various world capitals on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to fostering stronger global relations, and urged the envoys to actively enhance Pakistan’s international profile and strengthen its partnerships worldwide.

Dar was chairing a meeting of Pakistan’s envoys at key multilateral and bilateral missions, in what is an annual meeting of Pakistan’s envoys, and a regular feature at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to the Foreign Office, “This is to mainly to discuss the various facets of Pakistan’s foreign policy and its coherent implementation”.

The foreign minister termed Pakistan’s foreign policy as “ a dynamic foreign policy in its bilateral and multilateral dimensions”. Foreign Secretary Ms Amna Baloch and additional foreign secretaries and senior directors general of the ministry also attended the meeting.

“The envoys shared their assessment and views on the regional and global developments and inputs for foreign policy priorities for 2025 and beyond”, added the Foreign Office.

The News understands that nearly a dozen envoys attended the meeting; some were already in town on leave, while others were summoned specially for the meeting.

Official sources told The News that “It was a very useful meeting, especially at a time when Pakistan will begin its two-year tenure as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) from January 1, for the 2025-26 term”.

This was one of the reasons the envoys’ conference saw a strong representation of Pakistan’s envoys based in the US. Amongst them were Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, Ambassador of Pakistan to the Permanent Mission at the UN Dr Bilal Ahmed, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Munir Akram and Additional Permanent Representative to the UN Asim Iftikhar Ahmad. Envoys from Afghanistan, China, Russia, UAE, Geneva, Netherlands, Vienna were also present. Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan was invited as an observer.

Rather surprisingly, given the regional context, Pakistan’s high commissioner to India and its ambassador to Iran were not present.

The envoys delivered presentations on the incoming US administration of President-elect Donald Trump, outlining the challenges and opportunities for Islamabad-Washington bilateral relations. Their presentations also covered key multilateral issues, major global developments in the region -- particularly Afghanistan -- significant shifts in the Middle East with a focus on Syria, evolving dynamics within Europe, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the European Union (EU), and matters related to disarmament.

According to official sources, following the meeting, now internal discussions will take place at the Foreign Office and recommendations will then be sent to the prime minister.

In 2018, during the tenure of former prime minister Imran Khan, a two-day Envoys Conference on Economic Diplomacy was held — spearheaded by former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureishi.