President Dr Arif Alvi has said that Pakistan highly values its relations with Germany, both bilaterally, and in the context of the EU, and wanted to further strengthen and expand the mutually beneficial ties. The President appreciated the continuous upward trend in bilateral trade between Pakistan and Germany and underlined the need to fully exploit the huge potential of trade, investment and business between the two countries. The President said this while talking to a delegation of a German political foundation working in Pakistan, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, led by Mr Mirco Gunther, Head of the Asia-Pacific Department at Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, at Aiwan-e-Sadr, today. Talking to the delegation, the President said that Pakistan and Germany could have fruitful cooperation in learning from each other’s experience in voting mechanisms for general elections, countering fake news and disinformation, and the agenda-setting role of social media, promoting justice fair play, equality and dignity and incorporation of universal ethical and moral values in international relations. The President noted that Germany was one of the largest foreign direct investors in Pakistan with a total investment of US$ 380.5 million and appreciated the fact that over 35 German companies were successfully carrying out their businesses in Pakistan. He said that German investors should invest in Special Economic Zones under China Pakistan Economic Corridor and in the wind, solar and hydel energy projects and take advantage of new sets of incentives offered by Pakistan in these sectors. The President welcomed Germany’s continued support for the continuation of GSP+ status to Pakistan and its continuous support for Pakistan for completing all the technical requirements of both the 2018 and 2021 action plans of FATF. He expressed Pakistan’s desire to engage with Germany in terms of capacity enhancement of Pakistani institutions dealing with Climate Change, improving people-to-people contacts, and strengthening cooperation in higher education. The President also underlined that Afghanistan was in a dire humanitarian situation and there was an urgent need for the international community to further scale up its humanitarian assistance for the people of Afghanistan. He said that Pakistan desired good relations with all its neighbours, including India. He added that Pakistan believed that sustainable peace in South Asia remained contingent on the peaceful resolution of the Jammu & Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant UNSC resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people. The President expressed the hope that Friedrich Ebert Stiftung would be positively contributing to the further strengthening of relations between Pakistan and Germany. It may be noted that cooperation between Pakistani organizations and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) began in the middle of the 1980s. In 1990, FES established its own Pakistan Office in Islamabad. FES aims at promoting the exchange and understanding between Pakistan and Germany, South Asia and Europe. Over 130,000 persons of Pakistani nationality/ origin are living in Germany. Currently, 5000 Pakistani students are studying in various German universities.
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