Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will attend Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s inauguration ceremony in Ankara on June 3, Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said on Thursday.
The prime minister is visiting at the request of President Erdogan, who was re-elected on May 28.
“The prime minister’s visit will be a reaffirmation of the deep-rooted fraternal ties between Pakistan and Turkiye,” said Mumtaz Zahra Baloch at a weekly press conference.
According to the FO spokeswoman, the prime minister would express sincere congratulations to President Erdogan on behalf of the government and the people of Pakistan.
She further stated that the prime minister would invite President Erdogan to the 7th Meeting of the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council (HLSCC) in Islamabad.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won Turkey’s presidential election on Sunday, defeating opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu in a runoff vote and extending his power for a third decade.
The preliminary official results issued by Turkey’s Supreme Election Council (YSK) on Sunday showed Erdogan winning with 52.14% of the ballots with 99.43% of the votes counted. Kilicdaroglu received 47.86% of the vote.
Meanwhile, FO spokesperson Baloch announced that Minister of State (MoS) for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar will travel to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Belgium from June 5 to June 13.
“The MoS will hold ministerial-level meetings to discuss political engagement and cooperation in development, trade, and climate change,” she explained.
She will also meet with lawmakers and local business owners. She will meet with members of the European Parliament and senior European Commission officials in Belgium.
The Minister of State will be a keynote speaker at the annual conference of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) in Sweden. She will express Pakistan’s perspective on regional and global issues, as well as engage in dialogues with key European decision-makers, experts, think tanks, and influencers on foreign policy priorities and difficulties.
The FO spokesperson said Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was currently in Jordan to attend the wedding of Crown Prince Hussein at the invitation of the Royal family of Jordan.
From Jordan, FM Bilawal will travel to Iraq from the 5th to the 7th of June at the invitation of the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Dr. Fuad Hussein. This is Foreign Minister’s first visit to Iraq.
“During the visit, the Foreign Minister will meet the Iraqi leadership. In his meeting with his counterpart, the two sides will discuss a range of issues of common interest and explore avenues of bilateral cooperation,” she said.
Furthermore, the FO spokesperson said Pakistan was deeply concerned over India’s latest move seeking the death penalty for prominent Kashmiri leader, Yasin Malik.
Furthermore, the FO spokesperson said Pakistan was deeply concerned over India’s latest move seeking the death penalty for prominent Kashmiri leader, Yasin Malik.
Last year, Yasin Malik was awarded a life sentence in a contrived case, marked by fabricated charges and denial of a fair trial. He is being held in inhumane conditions in the notorious Tihar jail despite his deteriorating health.
She urged the Indian authorities to bring an end to the “farce of a trial” of Yasin Malik and provide him with quality health treatment and allowed him to live freely among his family.
