The federal government has constituted a foreign affairs advisory council with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi as its chairman. The aim of the council is to make foreign policy more effective and robust to meet the rapid geo-strategic and economic challenges in the region and in the world.
According to a notification issued by the Foreign Ministry, there would be 10 full time members of the council, while eight others would be ex-officio members.
According to the notification, among the members are two former foreign secretaries: Salman Bashir and Jalil Abbas Jilani. Muhammad Sadiq, ex secretary of the National Security Division and former ambassador Jehangir Ashraf Qazi are also members of the council.
Other members are Dr. Riffat Hussan, Dr Adil Najam, Dr Huma Baqai, Qasim Niaz and Rabia Akhter. Among ex-officio members are Ministers for Finance, Law and Planning, Adviser to the PM on Commerce, Foreign Secretary, DG Foreign Service Academy, the additional secretary Foreign Minister’s Office and the DG institute of Strategic Studies.
After approval from Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Foreign Office has issued a notification of the council and its first meeting would be called soon.
Published in Daily Times, December 29th 2018.
