FM Bilawal meets world leaders at Munich Security Conference

MUNICH: Foreign Minister (FM) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Saturday held meetings with his counterparts and leaders of different countries at the Munich Security Council in Germany and discussed matters of mutual interest, ARY News reported.

According to details, the foreign minister met his Saudi counterpart Faisal Bin Farhan Al Saud and the two pledged to increase cooperation of their countries in diverse fields.

During the meeting, FM Bilawal Bhutto said that Pakistan highly valued its brotherly relations with Saudi Arabia.

He also held a meeting with Foreign Minister of Finland Pekka Haavisto. The two sides agreed to take forward relations in sectors of education, trade and climate change. He welcomed the decision of Finland to re-open its embassy in Islamabad.

Later, the minister met with Vice President and Foreign Minister of Jordan Ayman Al Safadi and they agreed to expand bilateral ties and high level contacts between Pakistan and Jordan.

He also met with Foreign Minister of Malta Dr Ian Borg and they expressed determination to promote relations in areas of information technology, health, tourism and start ups through the Joint Technical Commission.

Meanwhile, Bilawal had a meeting with chief of International Crisis Group Dr Comfort Ero and they concurred to adopt a coordinated strategy to resolve issues facing the humanity.

The minister also held discussions with US Senator Lindsey Graham and other members of the Congress and they talked about issues of climate change and the challenges faced by humanity.

FM urges for capacity building of Afghan authorities to counter terrorism

Earlier in the day, FM Bilawal Bhutto Zardari urged the international community to help in capacity building of the Afghan interim authorities to take on threats of terrorism.

The foreign minister expressed these remarks during a panel discussion in Munich Security Conference.

He said the international community wanted the Afghan interim government to live up to its obligations and commitments in areas like women education, all-inclusive government and tackling of potential threats from terrorism, emanating from terrorist groups of Daesh, Tehereek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Al Qaeda.

The foreign minister said that if this issue was not taken seriously, the terrorist groups could conduct terrorist activities from Afghanistan as had been witnessed recently from incidents in Pakistan.

“The interim government neither had a standing army, a counter-terrorism force and even a border force, nor have the capacity”, he opined.

FM Bilawal said the global community should convince the Afghan interim government to take on the threat of terrorism and demonstrate its will. “Terrorism not only posed threat to immediate neighbours of Afghanistan but also to the West”, he cautioned.