FM stresses SCO’s coordinated efforts to deal COVID-19 challenge
Islamabad: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Wednesday terming COVID-19 pandemic a ‘challenge of unprecedented scale’ stressed coordinated efforts among the member states of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to effectively deal the issue.
He was delivering a speech here at the virtual meeting of SCO Council of Foreign Ministers via video-conference, convened by the Russian Federation in its capacity as current chair of SCO.
Besides Pakistan, the meeting was attended by Foreign Ministers of all SCO member States, the SCO Secretary General and Director of the Executive Committee of SCO Regional Anti-terrorist Structure.
Foreign Minister Quershi said the coronavirus crisis was a litmus test for multilateralism and emphasized on SCO’s effective role in this regard.
The foreign minister made a number of proposals to strengthen coordination among SCO states against the pandemic, including regular interaction among Ministries of Health, joint research mechanisms and strengthening of SCO Hospital Alliance.
As a means to support the economically vulnerable segments of society, he underlined Pakistan’s proposal for creation of the SCO Experts Group on Poverty Alleviation, as well as setting up the Centre of Excellence on Poverty.
Foreign Minister Qureshi also stressed the need for SCO to reject stigmatization and discrimination of any community in the context of Covid-19 on the basis of race, religion or ethnicity.
He briefed the SCO Foreign Ministers on Pakistan’s coordinated response to COVID-19 covering public health as well as the economic aspects of the crisis.
He observed that even though infections were spreading worldwide, Pakistan had seen relatively low fatalities. However, he stressed that ‘there was no room to let our guard down’.
Highlighting socio-economic repercussions of the health crisis, Foreign Minister Qureshi underscored Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ‘Global Initiative on Debt Relief’ for developing countries as a mean to formulate a comprehensive multi-stakeholder plan of action to shore up economies and promote sustainable growth.
Apart from the prevailing pandemic situation, matters relating to peace and security in the region including Afghanistan came under discussion.
The foreign minister specifically praised China’s responsible handling of the crisis and its leading role in assisting the international community. He also expressed gratitude for China’s assistance to Pakistan.
On regional situation, the foreign minister welcomed the U.S.-Taliban Peace Agreement and hoped that the Afghan leadership would seize the historic opportunity to work out a comprehensive and inclusive political settlement.
He stressed that SCO, through the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group, could play a facilitative role at this juncture.
The foreign minister emphasized that tackling terrorism and extremism must continue to be a priority but terrorism related allegations must not be used as political tool to malign and victimize any country or religion.
He urged upon the international community to condemn and hold accountable the perpetrators of state terrorism including against people under illegal occupation.
He also stressed the importance of rejecting xenophobic ideologies including Islamophobia.
Qureshi said Pakistan considered SCO an important platform to foster regional cooperation for peace, security, connectivity and socio-economic development.
Pakistan has been actively contributing towards the objective of SCO since becoming its Member in 2017.
