EAM Jaishankar Concludes Pak visit, thanks SCO Hosts
Wrapping up his flying visit to Pakistan to attend the SCO Council of Heads of Government in Islamabad, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar thanked Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar for 'hospitality and courtesies' throughout nearly 24 hours spent in the neighboring country.
"Leaving Islamabad. Thank PM Shehbaz Sharif, Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and the Government of Pakistan for the hospitality and courtesies", the minister posted on social media as he boarded the IAF plane at Rawalpindi's Nur Khan airbase.
It was the first time an Indian EAM visited Pakistan in over seven years. The last time an Indian EAM had visited Pakistan was in 2015 when late Sushma Swaraj attended the Heart of Asia Conference in Islamabad.
EAM S Jaishankar said that India has made a "positive and constructive contribution" to the deliberations as the SCO Council of Heads of Government met 'productively' in Islamabad.
The outcome, he said, was a "rich" set of eight documents while many key takeaways emerged for India.
It encompassed Building a discussion on the idea of One Earth, One Family, One Future; Successes of India's initiatives that include SCO Startup Forum, SWG on Startups and Innovation, and Traditional Medicine accepted by SCO; DPI and Digital inclusion being incorporated in the SCO cooperation framework; SCO taking lessons from the Mission LiFE for UNSDGs; and enhancing food security and nutrition across the world by increasing adoption of climate-resilient as well as nutrient-rich crops, which also includes millets.
Signed documents include Upholding fair and balanced connectivity projects in accordance with international law, the goals and principles of the UN Charter and SCO Charter; Reemphasizing rules-based, non-discriminatory, open, fair, inclusive and transparent multilateral trading system with WTO at its core; and, opposing protectionist actions, unilateral sanctions, and trade restrictions that undermine the multilateral trading system and impede global sustainable development.
In his much-awaited speech, EAM called "terrorism, extremism and separatism" the 'three evils', emphasizing that if trust is missing and good neighborliness is missing somewhere, there are surely reasons to introspect and causes to address.
