ISLAMABAD: Pakistan places its bilateral relationship with France in high esteem and desires to further expand cooperation in different fields for mutual benefit of the people of two sides, said Senator Lieutenant General (r) Abdul Qayyum, convener Pakistan-French Parliamentary Friendship Group in a meeting with newly deputed French Ambassador Marc Barety, who called on him in Islamabad, on Tuesday.
Pakistan and France share a history of bilateral cooperation and both the countries share a vision to promote regional and global peace, said Lt Gen(r) Abdul Qayyum.
“Pakistan wants peace in the region and strongly believes in a peaceful and dialogue-oriented solution to all issues, including Kashmir,” he added. He appraised the envoy to the overall dynamics of Asia and more specifically the South Asian region.
He also underscored the need for enhanced parliamentary exchanges to bring people of the two sides closer and boost mutual linkages in various sectors. He called for making the parliamentary friendship groups more vibrant so that both the countries could benefit from the expertise of parliamentarians and give parliamentary diplomacy a chance to take the bilateral relations to new altitudes.
While welcoming the French ambassador Abdul Qayyum assured to extend full cooperation and assistance to promote and strengthen Pakistan-France bilateral friendship ties specially focusing on trade, economic cooperation, culture, health, education, counter terrorism and defence cooperation sectors.
Marc Barety agreed with the views of Senator Abdul Qayyum and expressed his gratitude for endeavours to promote Pakistan-France bilateral ties. He also reiterated French government’s offer to invite Pakistan’s Senate Parliamentary delegation to visit France in the near future.
The envoy acknowledged Pakistan’s efforts in war against terrorism. He said that Kashmir was a longstanding issue between Pakistan and India and it needed to be resolved peacefully through dialogue and negotiations. Referring to Afghanistan issue, that ambassador said, “France strongly supports Afghan-owned and Afghan-led solution to the problem. ”
Abdul Qayyum said that Pakistan was looking forward to receive French Parliamentary delegation headed by Senator Pascal Allizard in the next month. He added that such visits would go a long way to promote bilateral ties.
He hoped that the new envoy like his predecessor would contribute to further strengthen bilateral relations between governments, parliament and people of the two sides.
Published in Daily Times, November 29th 2017.
