Pakistan has reaffirmed its commitment to strengthen partnership with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ member states.
The resolve was expressed by Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood during a roundtable discussion with heads of missions from ASEAN countries on Friday.
The foreign secretary reiterated to forge closer cooperation in political-security, trade, economy and socio-cultural domains with the ASEAN member states.
Last year, President Dr Arif Alvi proposed establishing a “trade triangle” among Pakistan, China and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to maximise the quantum of intra-regional business opportunities. In his virtual address to the 17th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) held in China’s Nanning city, the President said Pakistan’s stable macro-economic policies and ease of doing business offered an attractive market to both China and the ASEAN countries for trade cooperation in diverse areas.
“We encourage the ASEAN countries and the Chinese businessmen to invest in SEZs as Pakistan’s macro-economic policies have changed tremendously with an improved state of ease of doing business,” he said.
