The Swiss Foreign Minister arrives in Islamabad
ISLAMABAD: Switzerland’s Foreign Minister, Ignazio Cassis, has arrived in Islamabad for a three-day official visit.
According to a Foreign Office release, the Swiss foreign minister met with Acting Foreign Secretary Dr Syrus Sajjad Qazi.
The Swiss Foreign Minister is accompanied by a high-level entourage that includes members of the Swiss Parliament and senior officials.
He will meet with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman.The Swiss Foreign Minister will also pay a visit to the National Disaster Management Authority, where the two sides will explore measures to further bilateral disaster management collaboration.
According to a statement issued by Foreign Office, the Swiss foreign minister met Acting Foreign Secretary Dr Syrus Sajjad Qazi.
A high-level delegation comprising members of Swiss Parliament and senior officials is also accompanying the Swiss Foreign Minister.
He will call on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman.
The Swiss Foreign Minister will also visit the National Disaster Management Authority where the two sides will discuss ways to enhance bilateral cooperation in disaster management.
Taking to Twitter, PTI leader Hammad Azhar said that an IMF resident representative for Pakistan Esther Perez Ruiz visited Zaman Park for meeting his party chief, Imran Khan, while IMF mission chief for Pakistan Nathan Porter joined virtually from Washington.
Hammad Azhar added the PTI team included him, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Shaukat Tarin, Omar Ayub Khan, Sania Nishtar, Shibli Faraz, Taimur Jhagra and Muzammil Aslam.
The meeting lasted for more than an hour, during which “discussions took place around the staff-level agreement that IMF has reached with the Government of Pakistan for a nine-month $3 billion standby arrangement and in this context, we support the overall objectives and key policies”, the PTI leader said.
“We welcome the SBA to preserve macroeconomic stability by anchoring external financing and sound policies ahead of the national elections due in the fall of this year and until a new government is formed,” he added.
The former federal minister further said his party wished to stress the “importance of programs to protect the lower-income segments of the population from high inflation”.
