EAM Jaishankar Wraps Up Pak Visit, Thanks SCO Meet Hosts For 'Hospitality And Courtesies'

Islamabad, Oct 16: As he wrapped up his flying visit to Pakistan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Heads of Government (CHG) meeting in Islamabad, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar on Wednesday afternoon thanked Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar for the "hospitality and courtesies" during his nearly 24-hour stay in the neighbouring country.

"Departing from Islamabad. Thank PM Shehbaz Sharif, Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and the Government of Pakistan for the hospitality and courtesies," the minister posted on X as he boarded the IAF plane at Rawalpindi's Nur Khan airbase.

The last time an Indian EAM visited Pakistan was in 2015 when late Sushma Swaraj attended the Heart of Asia Conference in Islamabad.

EAM Jaishankar highlighted that India made a "positive and constructive contribution" to the deliberations at a "productive" meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of Government in Islamabad on Wednesday.

A total of eight outcome documents were signed with many key takeaways from the Indian perspective.

It included Developing a dialogue on the idea of One Earth, One Family, One Future; Outcomes of India's initiatives like SCO Startup Forum, SWG on Startups and Innovation and Traditional Medicine welcomed by SCO members; DPI and Digital inclusion becoming part of SCO cooperation framework; SCO taking inspiration from Mission LiFE to achieving UNSDGs; and, enhancing global food security and nutrition through promoting use of climate-resilient and nutritious grains such as millets.

The signed documents also included Upholding fair and balanced connectivity projects in accordance with international law, the goals and principles of the UN Charter and SCO Charter; Reemphasizing rules-based, non-discriminatory, open, fair, inclusive and transparent multilateral trading system with WTO at its core; and, opposing protectionist actions, unilateral sanctions, and trade restrictions that undermine the multilateral trading system and impede global sustainable development.

During his much-anticipated address, the EAM called "terrorism, extremism and separatism" as the, "three evils" while emphasising that if trust is lacking and good neighbourliness is missing somewhere, there are surely reasons to introspect and causes to address.

"If activities across borders are characterised by terrorism, extremism and separatism, they are hardly likely to encourage trade, energy flows, connectivity and people-to-people exchanges in parallel," said Jaishankar without naming Pakistan. (IANS)