SAPM’s Participation in ASEAN Regional Forum

The Prime Minister’s Special Assistant for Foreign Affairs, Syed Tariq Fatemi who arrived in Nay Pyi Taw, the Myanmar capital on Saturday August 9th, 2014 afternoon, participated in the official gathering of the delegations from member states of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), who are meeting for the 21st Ministerial meeting of the ARF.
It would be recalled that ARF is the political and security arm of ASEAN. It is the first region wide Asia-Pacific multilateral forum for official consultations on peace and security issues. Presently, it consists of 27 member states.
At the welcoming dinner hosted by the Myanmar Foreign Minister Mr. U Wunna Maung Lwin, Mr. Tariq Fatemi held warm and cordial exchanges with US Secretary of State, Mr. John Kerry, the Chinese Foreign Minister Mr. Wang Yi, the Indian Foreign Minister Madam Sushma Swaraj, the EU Foreign Policy Chief Ms. Catherine Ashton and a host of other visiting foreign Ministers and Heads of Delegations.

In all these exchanges, the Special Assistant raised issues of interest to Pakistan, including bilateral matters and the regional situation. In his meeting with Secretary Kerry, the Special Assistant also drew the Secretary’s attention to the deep pain and anguish caused to the Muslim world on account of the Israeli military operations in Gaza.

The ARF Declaration will be formally discussed and adopted in the session scheduled for Sunday July 10, 2014 when the Special Assistant will also hold bilateral meetings with his counter-parts from other countries.

Islamabad
August 10, 2014

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