Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will be the first Pakistani foreign minister to visit India in nearly 12 years, according to the Foreign Office, which confirmed on Thursday that he would attend a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Goa next month.
This is also the first visit to India by the most senior Foreign Office envoy since 2016.
Mr Bhutto-Zardari will lead the Pakistan delegation to the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM), which will be held on May 4 and 5 in the Indian city of Goa, according to Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch at a weekly media briefing.
She stated that the foreign minister would attend the conference at the invitation of his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who now chairs the SCO’s foreign ministers’ council. The SCO is a regional political and security bloc comprised of Russia, China, India, and Pakistan.
“Our participation in the meeting reflects Pakistan’s commitment to the SCO charter and processes, as well as the importance Pakistan places on the region in its foreign policy priorities,” said Ms Baloch.
She reminded that Mr Bhutto-Zardari also attended the SCO Foreign Ministers’ Council meeting last year in Tashkent, Uzbekistan’s capital.
Ms Baloch, on the other hand, would not clarify whether the foreign minister would meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi or his Indian counterpart. She also did not identify the makeup of the Pakistani team or the length of Mr Bhutto-Zardari’s visit to India.
“I have always stated that when decisions are made, formal announcements will be made.” “We will be making preparations for the visit now that this decision has been made,” she said in response to a query at the briefing.
“We will make additional announcements in the coming days as decisions are made.” “I must emphasise, however, that the foreign minister’s upcoming visit is not a bilateral visit, but rather a visit in the context of the SCO,” she stated.
Mr. Bhutto-Zardari’s travel to India will be the first by a Pakistani foreign minister in almost a decade. Hina Rabbani Khar, Pakistan’s then-top diplomat, visited India in 2011. Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry visited India for a day in 2016.
Bilawal to seek parties’ input
Separately, Foreign Minister Bhutto-Zardari confirmed his attendance at the upcoming SCO meeting in India, according to Dawn.com.
“It will be a gathering of foreign ministers, and I will go there as a representative of Pakistan,” he told reporters at an Islamabad press conference.
He stated that his participation in the summit will demonstrate Pakistan’s adherence to SCO rules. He stated that because he would be representing the country, he would contact all political parties prior to his departure to solicit their feedback.
In response to a query about the potential of discussing bilateral connections during the trip, he replied that SCO norms and regulations made it plain that the forum was not to be utilised to raise bilateral issues.
Sudan chaos
Ms Baloch told the conference that the Foreign Office was closely watching the safety and security of the Pakistani population present in Sudan, referring to the “worrying” developments there.
Last week, fighting started in Sudan between the soldiers of two generals who took control in a coup in 2021. Last week, three gunshots struck the Pakistani embassy in Khartoum, causing damage to the chancery building.
There were approximately 1,500 Pakistanis in Sudan. “Our Embassy has advised them to stay indoors for their own safety in light of the current developments in the country,” she said.
CPEC ‘crown jewel’
When asked to comment on the perception that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which was first billed as a “game changer,” has become a burden for Pakistan, Ms Baloch said the multibillion-dollar infrastructure project was the crown gem of Pakistan-China economic cooperation.
“It is a significant project to which Pakistan and China are both fully committed.” “We believe that CPEC has greatly benefited the people of Pakistan,” she stated.
She stated that the energy projects that have come online as a consequence of Chinese investments under the CPEC framework proved the relevance of the CPEC framework for Pakistan’s economy and development.
Similarly, the people of Pakistan were already benefiting from the CPEC-developed road infrastructure and highway projects, she said, adding that anyone who rode on these roads could recognise the economic value of these infrastructure projects.
She stated that the development of Gwadar Port was also a significant achievement under CPEC. “We believe that all of these projects are contributing to, and have the potential to contribute further to Pakistan’s development and prosperity,” she said.
