ANKARA – Pakistan and Turkey have agreed to expand the scope of bilateralconsultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the twocountries to new areas while expressing complete satisfaction at theexisting close cooperation of the two at multi-lateral forums, as well asunanimity of views on issues of regional and international importance.

According to a foreign office statement issued here Thursday, this was thecrux of the deliberations in the third Round of Pakistan-Turkey BilateralConsultations on UN-related matters which was held on March 28, 2018 inAnkara. The next round of talks will now be held in Islamabad.

Pakistan’s delegation was led by Special Secretary (UN&EC/SCO), TasnimAslam, while the Turkish side was led by Deputy Undersecretary forPolitical Affairs, Ambassador Kaan Esener. Pakistan’s Ambassador to Turkey,Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi also attended the talks.

The two sides exchanged views on a wide range of issues including interalia UN Security Council reform process and reform of the UN system; humanrights, humanitarian and refugee issues; counter-terrorism; combatingIslamophobia and religious discrimination; matters related to transnationalorganized crime; migration related issues; ECOSOC; Sustainable DevelopmentGoals (SDGs); as well as issues pertaining to regional and internationalpeace and security.

Special Secretary (UN&EC/SCO), Tasnim Aslam, also called on theUndersecretary of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador UmitYalcin during the visit and exchanged views on issues of bilateral andregional importance. – APP