Shehbaz likely to meet Trump today

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is likely to have yet another meeting with US President Donald Trump on Monday (today) in the Egyptian Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir and Deputy Prime Minister Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar will attend the meeting.

It would be their fourth meeting in less than a month that is taking place on the sidelines of “Peace Summit” to be jointly chaired by the US President and host Egyptian President Fatah Al-Sisi for signing the first phase of peace deal for Gaza.

Diplomatic sources told The News/Jang Sunday evening that Shehbaz, who had discussed his sojourn to Sharm el Shaikh with his party president Nawaz Sharif in Lahore, would also have a brief meeting with his Saudi counterpart Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Qatari Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Sheikh Muhammad bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

All the meetings that could take place on the margins of the summit would discuss regional as well international subjects and issues of bilateral interest.

The occasion could prove to be the largest congregation of the world leaders after last month’s UNGA in New York.

The other world leaders who are expected to turn up for the event are French President Emmanuel Macron, Jordanian King Abdullah II, Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Palestinian President Mahmood Abbas and European Council President Antonio Costa. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was also invited but he declined.

Interestingly, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also been invited but he has assigned his junior minister Kirti Vardan Singh to represent him. It is the third occasion in recent months when Modi avoided coming face to face with President Trump, the sources hinted.

The US president will lead the summit alongside Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi with leaders from more than 20 countries in attendance.

Sources pointed out that it was unclear how the summit itself could formally end the war.

Israel has said it will not agree to end the war until it is satisfied that Hamas no longer poses any threat and has no part in the rule of Gaza. Israel has not been invited to the event, while Hamas also will not attend it.

President Trump will be coming from Israeli occupied historic city Jerusalem to attend the summit. He will have talks with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the city.

The summit also “could tee up a wider movement toward normalization” with Israel in the region, a shared goal of Israel and the Trump administration. President Trump initially extended invitations to leaders or foreign ministers from Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Qatar, the UAE, Jordan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Indonesia. Later, the US State Department issued official invitations to the leaders’ summit and has significantly expanded the list of invitees to include Spain, Japan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Hungary, India, El Salvador, Cyprus, Greece, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Canada, the sources added.