ISLAMABAD – Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Thursdayrepresented Pakistan in the 17th Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD)Ministerial Meeting, held in a virtual format.
In his address, Qureshi stated that ACD is a leading platform that hastransformed into a robust institutional mechanism for dialogue anddiscussions among the member states on issues of mutual interest.
Highlighting the devastating repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic onsustainable development and developing countries, Pakistan stressed theneed to coordinate actions, benefit from each other’s experiences, and poolresources for responding to the pandemic and financing the implementationof the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The minister stated that Pakistan is open to share its experience andinternationally acknowledged approach in effectively combating thepandemic, and emphasized the need for the COVID-19 vaccine to become easilyand equitably accessible to all.
Assuring full support to the ACD’s agenda on Tourism and Culture, being theCo-prime Mover, Pakistan has stated that the theme “the New Normal and Safeand Healthy Tourism” will help in fostering networking, improvingconnectivity, and promoting tourism in the ACD Member States.
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Highlighting the importance of connectivity and announcing an earlyconvening of the inaugural meeting of the Executive Committee of the JointWorking Group on Connectivity, Pakistan emphasized the need to implementthe ACD Blueprint 2021-2030 and the Road Map for ACD Regional Connectivity.
“Pakistan reiterated its firm belief in ACD’s founding values and itscommitment to ACD’s Vision 2030 and the Ankara Declaration. We alsowelcomed the establishment of ACD Permanent Secretariat in Kuwait.”
ACD is a continent-wide forum, which provides a platform to Asian countriesto regularly exchange views on areas of mutual interest and foster an Asiancommunity. Pakistan is one of the founding members of ACD and assigns highpriority to this forum.
