Qureshi underlines possibility of trade with Germany

ISLAMABAD: Germany has assured Pakistan of providing vaccines through the COVAX initiative as early as possible, as it remains one of the biggest contributors to COVAX.

Germany has already pledged 2.1 billion Euros to support global COVID-19 vaccination efforts; however, with the present situation, especially with India pulling out of COVAX, it appears that the contribution towards Pakistan will be delayed beyond May. This issue was raised by the visiting German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas with his counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi at the Foreign Office here. Heiko Mass made a short unannounced visit to Pakistan on Thursday.

Earlier, during Qureshi’s visit to Germany, he had announced that Pakistan would receive 15 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine under the COVAX facility. "Following my meeting with the German Foreign Minister, I am happy to announce that Pakistan will receive 15 million doses of the COVID vaccine under COVAX, with a commitment for these to be delivered by May," the foreign minister had tweeted during his visit to Germany.

On Thursday, the two foreign ministers reviewed bilateral trade cooperation and exchanged views on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.

Qureshi said there was possibility of bilateral trade between Pakistan and Germany and underscored the importance of enhancing mutual cooperation to combat the pandemic in a holistic manner. Afghanistan was another important issue during the talks with Foreign Minister Qureshi.

Commenting on the annual report issued by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), which has been critical of Pakistan’s religions freedom, the spokesman said this lacked objectivity besides making unsubstantiated assertions.

“The report doesn’t acknowledge the Government of Pakistan’s efforts towards promoting religious freedom and protecting the rights of religious minorities through legislative, policy and administrative measures. Pakistan remains committed to protecting the rights of religious minorities. We will continue to remain constructively engaged on the subject with the US government,” pointed out the spokesman.