ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Convener Pakistan-France Parliamentary Friendship Group Senator Lt. General (retd) Abdul Qayyum on Tuesday said Pakistan placed its bilateral relationship with France in high esteem and desired to further expand cooperation in different fields for mutual benefit of people of two sides.
In a meeting with newly deputed French Ambassador Marc Barety in Islamabad, Lt. General (retd) Abdul Qayyum said that Pakistan and France shared a history of bilateral cooperation and both the countries shared a vision to promote regional and global peace.
“Pakistan wants peace in the region believes a peaceful and dialogue oriented solution to all the issues including Kashmir,” he observed.
The Senator apprised the envoy of 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.
Abdul Qayyum 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 new French ambassador, Senator Lt. General (retd) 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.
The French ambassador agreed with the views of Senator Abdul Qayyum and expressed his gratitude for endeavours to promote Pakistan-France bilateral ties.
Marc Barety 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 terror. He said that Kashmir was a long standing dispute between Pakistan and India and it needed to be resolved peacefully through dialogue and negotiations whereas France strongly supported Afghan owned and Afghan led solution to Afghanistan fiasco.
Senator Lt. General (red) Abdul Qayyum conveyed 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 the bilateral ties.
The Senator hoped that the new envoy like his predecessor would contribute to further strengthen bilateral relations between governments, parliament and people of the two sides.
