ISLAMABAD: Besides friendship and good neighbourly cooperation, the Visegrad Group countries are also united by the awareness of common social and economic challenges, understanding the value of regional solidarity, and the willingness to realise common goals of both European and foreign policy, said Polish Ambassador Piotr Opalinski on Monday. “From a 30-year perspective, the Visegrad Group became not only one of the symbols of the new united Europe and a successful political and economic transformation of the countries of the region but also an example of the effective format of regional cooperation within the European Union, which contributes to the shaping of European policies and enhancing its economic competitiveness,” the envoy told reporters here on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Visegrad Group working for political and economic cooperation in Central Europe. Accompanied by Hungarian Ambassador Bela Fazekas and Deputy Head of Mission of Czech Embassy Antonin Hradelik, the Polish envoy said in February 1991, the presidents of Poland and the Czech Republic, and the prime minister of Hungary signed the Declaration on Cooperation to strive for European integration in the castle of Visegrad, Hungary. He said the declaration provided a political framework for extensive cooperation between Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary, and brought closer the societies of the three, and later four, countries. “The Visegrad was formed to work for the full recovery of the states’ independence, democracy, and liberty, eradication of symptoms of totalitarian regimes, construction of parliamentary democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, the establishment of a free-market economy, comprehensive participation in the European political and economic system, as well as the security and legislative system. “The accession of our countries to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and later joining the European Union symbolically closed this first stage and opened new perspectives for the Visegrad cooperation,” he said. The ambassador said V4 was not only about political cooperation. “One of the emblematic institutions of our cooperation is the International Visegrad Fund, which, since its establishment in 2000, has granted around 2,400 educational scholarships and supported almost 6000 projects by NGOs, local governments, scientists and artists, mainly across our four countries, but also in the Eastern Partnership and Western Balkan states.” The envoy said the Visegrad Group’s anniversary coincided with Poland’s presidency of the Group from July 2020 until June 2021. He recited a few verses from the Urdu poetry of Allama Muhammad Iqbal. The ambassador said the coronavirus pandemic had slowed down cooperation between the V4 countries but whenever the situation improved, visa applications would be processed. He said after the COVID-19 pandemic was over, Pakistani businessmen and students would be welcomed to those four countries. The Hungarian envoy shed light on the role of his country in the alliance and said Hungary had offered 200 scholarships to Pakistani students