PM asks Foreign Office to project soft image of Pakistan through public diplomacy

Islamabad 28th June, 2012.

Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf was given a detailed briefing by the
Minister for Foreign Affairs Mrs. Hina Rabbani Khar, Secretary Foreign
Affairs and the relevant senior officials on Pakistan’s foreign policy
at the Foreign Ministry today during the visit of the Prime Minister.

 The Prime Minister in his observation underscored the importance of
projecting the soft image of Pakistan through public diplomacy by
encouraging the people to people contacts, cultural exchanges and
promotion of business and trade the world over.

The Prime minister also emphasized the urgency of interacting with the
third generation of expatriate Pakistanis especially those living in
Europe and the USA as sustainability of their attachment with Pakistan
will be a great asset for the country.

The Prime Minister directed the Foreign Office that it should focus on
African countries as well because there exists immense potential of
bilateral cooperation and that is the reason as to why focus of many
emerging powers was shifting to those countries.

The Prime Minister said that the prevalence of goodwill in the
continent, which was earned due to the successful UN Peace Keeping
Mission headed by Pakistan Army, should be leveraged to promote
Pakistan’s interests.

The Prime Minster asked officers of the Ministry several questions
regarding functioning of Pakistani missions abroad and called upon
them to pro-actively pursue the trade diplomacy as it has assumed
greater significance in the modern diplomacy.
The Prime Minster said that Pakistan’s foreign policy was confronted
with many challenges but expressed his confidence that the Foreign
Ministry was quite capable of converting these challenges into
opportunities for Pakistan. ‘Pakistan’s foreign policy is in safe
hands’, the Prime Minister remarked.

Earlier, Minister for Foreign Affairs Mrs. Hina Rabbani Khar welcomed
the Prime Minister in the Foreign Office and said her team present
there was the nucleus of the Ministry which is endeavouring to achieve
foreign policy objectives through our missions abroad and also through
interaction with diplomatic community based in Islamabad.

Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani elaborated upon the functioning
of the different departments in the Ministry. The heads of departments
also briefed the Prime Minister about their functions and role in the
context of country’s foreign policy.