ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Pakistan and Italy held the fourth round of annual Bilateral Political Consultations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad on Thursday.
The Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua led the Pakistan delegation while the Italian side was headed by Secretary General of Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Elisabetta Balloni.
The two sides discussed the entire range of bilateral relations including regional and global issues of mutual interest. They expressed satisfaction at the current state of relations and agreed to enhance bilateral cooperation in all spheres including political, trade and investment, defence, education, archaeology, tourism, culture and people-to-people contacts.
The two sides welcomed the signing of the Inter-governmental agreement on Cooperation in field of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation between trade development authorities of the two Countries in the field of marble mining, leather and denim clothing.
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4th round of #Pakistan-Italy bilateral political consulatations taking place at MoFA today. Pakistan delegation is being led by FS Tehmina Janjua. Elisabetta Belloni, SG of Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs @ItalyMFA is leading the Italian side. pic.twitter.com/UAsiPeii5g— Dr Mohammad Faisal (@ForeignOfficePk) December 13, 2018
The Italian delegation was briefed about the government’s priorities and people centric reform agenda, which focuses on strengthening of democratic norms, good governance, justice and accountability and improving health, education and environmental sectors.
The Italian side was also briefed on the situation of peace and security in the region, including Pakistan-India relations and continuing grave violation of human rights in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
The two sides also agreed to further build on the already existing strong cooperation at the multilateral fora, in particular at the United Nations. They also decided to work on a comprehensive roadmap for future cooperation.
The Italian secretary general agreed on the importance of strengthening cooperation in trade and investment, including through private sector joint ventures.
The role of the strong Pakistani community was appreciated. Issues related to illegal migrants and developing frameworks of legal migration were discussed.
Pakistan and Italy have the institutional mechanism of annual Bilateral Political Consultations under the framework of Pakistan-Italy Strategic Engagement Plan of 2013. The mechanism of regular bilateral political consultations provides an opportunity to review the entire spectrum of bilateral ties and exchange views on regional and global issues of mutual interest.
The next round of annual Bilateral Political Consultations will be held in Rome in 2019 at mutually convenient dates.
