ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Japan on Friday focused on ways to enhance cooperation in the areas of trade, tourism, people-to-people communications, human resource development, science & technology, culture and education in their bilateral political consultations.
The Pakistan side was led by Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood during the 12th Pakistan-Japan Bilateral Political Consultations (BPC) Meeting, while the Japanese side was led by Senior Deputy Foreign Minister Kenji Kanasugi.
The BPC offered a significant forum for evaluating the whole spectrum of bilateral relationships. Both sides reaffirmed the importance of the bilateral relationship between Pakistan and Japan, and reiterated their commitment to a higher level of this long-standing partnership.
The Foreign Secretary briefed the Japanese side on recent positive developments in Pakistan including macroeconomic stability, improved credit ratings, improved business climate, enhanced World Bank Ease of Doing Business index rankings, new investment prospects, and potential tourism.
The two sides shared satisfaction with the increased level of political engagement, including President Dr. Arif Alvi’s visit to Tokyo to attend the Emperor’s enthronement ceremony, and looked forward to further high-level exchanges.
The views on global and regional trends were shared, too. The foreign secretary briefed on Pakistan’s continued sponsorship of the Afghan peace and reconciliation process.
He also updated the Japanese side on the negative consequences of India’s illegal and unilateral actions on 5 August 2019, the ongoing human rights and humanitarian situation in Indian occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IOJ&K), and the significance of the world community playing its part in averting the threat to peace and security and ensuring a peaceful resolution to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.
Moreover, the foreign secretary taught the Japanese side of Pakistan’s viewpoint on defusing tensions in the Middle East / Gulf region and supporting all efforts towards a political and diplomatic solution.
Both sides expressed their satisfaction with the current course of bilateral relations and their commitment to strengthening mutual cooperation in various fields.
