Foreign Minister, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, is on an official visit to Berlin on the invitation of his counterpart, German Foreign Minister Mr. Heiko Maas, from 12-13 April 2021. He visited the German Foreign Office today, where he was received by the Foreign Minister.
Extending a warm welcome, Foreign Minister Maas, termed the visit by Foreign Minister Qureshi as a great honour, in the face of the challenges posed by COVID-19, which had failed to deter him. He hoped that the visit would further strengthen and diversify the bilateral relations between Pakistan and Germany, especially in the wake of the celebrations commemorating the 70 years of bilateral relations, this year.
The two Foreign Ministers had an in-depth and comprehensive exchange of views on the entire gamut of relations and the possibilities for further deepening this cooperation, especially, in the fields of trade and investment, science and technology, alternate energy, education and legal migration. The Foreign Minister briefed his German counterpart about the vision of the Prime Minister shifting focus from geo-politics to geo-economics and highlighted three pillars of the government’s overarching policy, namely: peace, development partnerships and connectivity. Regional and international developments of mutual interest including Pakistan-India relations, grave human rights violations in IIOJK, Afghanistan peace process, CPEC and opportunities for investments in Special Economic Zones (SEZs), EU DisinfoLab, and FATF were also discussed.
The Foreign Minister also announced the establishment of a new Consulate General of Pakistan in Munich to harness the economic potential between the two countries and facilitate the Pakistan-origin diaspora, especially in the South of Germany. Foreign Minister Qureshi also highlighted the inordinate visa delays being faced by Pakistani students, businessmen and families and requested for their early resolution.
During discussions on mitigating the impact of COVID-19, German Foreign Minister shared that Germany as the co-founder and biggest contributor to the COVAX initiative, is pleased to announce that Pakistan would receive 15 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, under COVAX, which would be delivered by May 2021. He was pleased to announce this during the visit of the Foreign Minister.
Foreign Minister Qureshi expressed the hope that his visit to Germany would turn a new page in the relationship and set in motion a series of substantive activities/ engagements leading up to the visit of the Prime Minister. He also extended an invitation to Foreign Minister Maas to visit Pakistan, which he was pleased to accept.
Following this meeting, Foreign Minister Qureshi also met Mr. Wolfgang Schauble, the President of German Bundestag (National Assembly). The Foreign Minister briefed him in detail about Afghanistan, India-Pakistan situation, grave human rights violations in IIOJK and COVID. The two leaders also discussed ways to promote Parliamentary exchanges in order to strengthen the democratic ideals between the two countries. The President greatly appreciated and agreed to the proposal of the Foreign Minister to hold bilateral Parliamentary exchanges, online, pending the resolution of the COVID pandemic. These virtual sessions could finalize the agenda for formal meetings to be held when in-person meetings begin as Corona situation improves.
Mr. Joe Kaeser, CEO Siemens Energy called on the Foreign Minister and discussed areas of potential investment in Pakistan and transfer of technology particularly in the power sector. The Foreign Minister invited Mr. Kaeser to Pakistan to work on concrete projects on optimizing the usage of electricity which would help in bringing down the electricity tariffs, to which he agreed.
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