Meetings/Interactions of the Foreign Minister on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly Session in New York

Foreign Minister, Makhdoom Shah Mahmoood Qureshi, held bilateral meeting on the side-lines of the United Nations General Assembly Session in New York.

Foreign Minister had a brief interaction with the Foreign Minister Jawad Zarif of Iran. Important issues pertaining to bilateral relationship and regional cooperation came under discussion during the interaction.

The Foreign Minister also held a meeting with the Foreign Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and expressed warm wishes for his country’s upcoming membership of the United Nations Security Council as a non-permanent member.

The Foreign Minister said that the two countries faced similar challenges, especially threats posed by climate change. He stated that Pakistan continued to remain at the forefront of the global efforts for addressing this challenge and during its membership of the UN Security Council in 2012-13, Pakistan worked closely with Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to highlight the issue from the platform of the UN Security Council.

The Foreign Minister of Saint Vincent and Grenadines said that climate change posed an existential threat to many SIDS, and needed global cooperation. He expressed the desire of Saint Vincent and Grenadines to work closely with Pakistan on the issue.

The Foreign Minister also briefed his counterpart on the latest situation in the Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IOJ&K). He emphasized that Jammu & Kashmir dispute remained one of the oldest issues on the agenda of the UN Security Council along with the issue of Palestine.

He express the hope that the UN Security Council would fulfil its moral and legal responsibility towards the oppressed people of IOJ&K by calling on India to end its atrocities forthwith, and allow the people of the region to exercise their right to self-determination tin accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

23 September 2019

391/2019