ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister (FM) Shah Mahmood Qureshi has urged the commonwealth countries to utilise commonalities in legal and administrative systems to overcome protectionism and maintain free trade.
Virtually addressing the commonwealth foreign affairs ministers meeting on Wednesday, he also called for launching dialogue for deeper and more sustained debt relief for stronger and more sustained economic recovery.
Talking about the negative impact of climate change, Qureshi urged developed countries to fulfil their pledge to mobilise $100 billion annually for climate action.
He said that despite Pakistan’s limited contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions, it is among the most climate-vulnerable countries.
He said Pakistan has joined the Commonwealth Blue Charter Action Group on “Mangrove Ecosystems and Livelihoods” whereas the government has also launched an “Eco-System Restoration Initiative” at the national level which among other activities, aims at planting 10 billion trees throughout the country in the next three years.
In addition, the first Electric Vehicle (EV) policy aims at replacing 30 per cent of the road vehicles with electric vehicles by 2030.
Further, he stressed on lending weight to calls by Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan and other world leaders for a “people’s vaccine” for the treatment of coronavirus, adding that there should be a regime in which all treatments and diagnoses are made patent-free, produced in mass, and made available to all countries to people free of cost.
The foreign minister said it is a matter of concern that the world over, the pandemic has been accompanied by a spike in intolerance, violence and racial discrimination, manifesting in various forms of hate speech, xenophobia, Islamophobia and supremacist ideologies.
“Core principles of rule of law, fundamental freedoms and multilateralism are in danger,” he warned.
