Daily Times

President Dr Arif Alvi on Monday received the diplomatic credentials of the ambassadors-designate of The Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Finland, Zimbabwe and Senegal at a presentation of credentials ceremony at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.

Ambassador of the Kingdom of Netherlands Henny Fokel de Vries, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Denmark Jakob Linulf, Ambassador of Switzerland Georg Steiner, Ambassador of Finland Hannu Ripatti, Non-Resident High Commissioner of Zimbabwe Lt Gen (Retd) Martin Chedondo, and Non-Resident Ambassador of Senegal Saliou Niang Dieng presented their credentials and also made separate calls on the president.

Talking to the Dutch ambassador, the president said Pakistan desired to forge a long-term and multi-dimensional partnership with the Netherlands, especially in the fields of trade, agriculture, investment, energy, culture, education and people-to-people contacts.

He said the Netherlands had become the second largest export destination for Pakistani products in the European Union (EU) with a bilateral trade volume of $2.3 billion.

He expressed the hope that the Netherlands would continue to extend its support for Pakistan’s GSP plus.

Talking to the Danish ambassador, the president said that Pakistan desired to further strengthen relations with Denmark in all spheres, especially in political, economic, trade, investment and defence fields. He proposed that Pakistani tech companies could offer their cost-effective and high-quality services and products to Denmark.

The president highlighted the importance of ease of travelling between the two countries for further improving the bilateral economic relations as well as people-to-people contacts.

Talking to the Swiss ambassador, President Alvi said Pakistan highly valued its partnership with Switzerland in economy, trade and commerce as well as in the sphere of socio-economic development and humanitarian assistance.

He said the Swiss companies could invest in Pakistan’s tourism sector which had great potential to attract tourism traffic from across the globe.

The president said Pakistan could learn from Switzerland’s highly developed tourism and hospitality industry, besides benefitting from Swiss expertise to train human resources connected with the tourism industry.

Talking to the ambassador of Finland, the president urged to enhance interactions between the business communities as well as the chambers of commerce and industry of the two countries to fully achieve the potential of bilateral trade volume.

He said Pakistan would welcome Finnish expertise in the transport sector, including environmentally sustainable transport technologies.

Talking to the high commissioner of Zimbabwe, the president expressed Pakistan’s desire to enhance cooperation in the agricultural, pharmaceutical and defence sectors. He also underlined the need for enhancing bilateral trade volume to its fullest potential.

Talking to the ambassador of Senegal, the president said Pakistan considered Senegal an important country in the West African region, and expressed satisfaction over the excellent state of relations between the two countries.

During the meetings, the president emphasized the need for further strengthening the international partnerships for countering climate change and moving towards the goal of zero emission of greenhouse gases.

He said the international community should commit itself to help the most vulnerable countries, including Pakistan, to improve their capacity and resilience to mitigate the effects of climate change-induced disasters.

He briefed the envoys on the recent catastrophic super floods caused by the emission of greenhouse gases where Pakistan’s contribution was less than 1% but it was facing the brunt of climate change in the form of unprecedented floods, forest fires, heat waves and droughts.

President Alvi thanked the international community for its continued support for Pakistan during the recent floods, and expressed the hope that the international community would further step up its contribution to relief and rehabilitation of the flood-hit population and reconstruction of the lost infrastructure.

Meanwhile, President Alvi expressed his deep grief and sorrow over the loss of precious lives in a stampede at a football ground in Indonesia that killed almost 125 people and injured 323 others.

The president said that he was deeply saddened by the tragedy and extended his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families, the government and the people of Indonesia.

He said that the people and the government of Pakistan shared the grief and sorrow of their Indonesian brethren in this difficult time. He prayed to Allah Almighty for granting forbearance and patience to the families of the victims, and for the rapid and complete recovery of the injured.