Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar will spend a busy day at the United Nations today, including attending a high-level UN Security Council (UNSC) debate, the Foreign Office (FO) said on Tuesday.
The deputy prime minister arrived in New York today on an official visit from May 26-28.
The debate is being held under China’s presidency of the council and chaired by its Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the UN Headquarters. Dar will deliver a statement at the meeting, according to a press release by the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the UN.
On the sidelines of the debate, he will hold a series of bilateral meetings with his counterparts as well as the UN leadership to “discuss bilateral relations, regional developments, and cooperation at the multilateral level”, the statement said.
It added that the engagements will include meetings with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, as well as Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov; Costa Rica’s Foreign Minister Manuel Tovar and former vice president Rebeca Grynspan; Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani; Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla; Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Petr Macinka of the Czech Republic; and Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio.
In the evening, Dar will attend a dinner hosted by Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN with ambassadors and permanent representatives of various Arab-Islamic and European countries, the statement said.
In a post on the social media platform X, the FO also said that Dar would attend the debate.
“He will also hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts, as well as senior UN officials,” it said.
It said that upon arrival, Dar was received by Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad and Consul General of Pakistan in New York Aamer Ahmad Atozai.
The FO had earlier stated that Dar was also scheduled to attend a meeting of the Group of Friends on Global Governance during his visit from May 26-28.
Chinese officials have said the debate on “Upholding the Purposes and Principles of the UN Charter and Strengthening the UN-Centred International System” aims to reinforce the relevance of the UN Charter, strengthen the authority of the UNSC, and promote multilateral diplomacy at a time of increasing global instability.
Beijing has also warned that rising geopolitical turbulence is placing unprecedented strain on multilateral institutions and the broader international system.
Pakistan is expected to align with China’s position on strengthening the United Nations and supporting dialogue-based approaches to conflict resolution. Diplomatic sources say that Dar would reiterate Islamabad’s longstanding view that disputes should be resolved peacefully and within the framework of the UN Charter.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who was also invited by the Chinese to take part in the debate, will not be present after being denied a visa by the host nation.
According to the Iranian state-run IRNA news agency, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei told a press briefing on Monday that Araghchi will not be travelling to New York to participate in the meeting “due to visa issues”.
