Pakistan, Singapore commit to strengthen cooperation

ISLAMABAD, January 27: Pakistan and Singapore held Bilateral Political Consultations (BPC) in virtual format on Thursday and discussed the entire gamut of the relations including cooperation in political, economic, defence, security, academic, science, technology, technical training, environment, culture and tourism domains.
Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Additional Secretary (Asia-Pacific) and Ng Teck Hean, Deputy Secretary, Asia Pacific and Southeast Asia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore, led their respective delegations.
Welcoming the steady progression in multi-dimensional bilateral  relations over the years, based on mutual trust and understanding, the two sides renewed strong desire and resolve to consolidate and further enhance cooperation in diverse fields in line with their shared objectives of peace and development.
They noted the importance of regular interaction and dialogue under existing mechanisms and exchange of high-level visits to impart further momentum to the relationship. The Additional Secretary (AP) highlighted Pakistan’s focus on geo-economics leveraging peace and security, development partnerships, and connectivity.
He stressed the importance of translating the long-standing friendship and political goodwill between Pakistan and Singapore into mutually beneficial substantive economic relationship with focus on trade and investment, connectivity and development cooperation given that the two countries were gateways to their respective regions.
He also thanked the government of Singapore for the generous donations by Temasek Foundation to assist Pakistan’s COVID-19 response in the early phase of the pandemic. The Deputy Secretary said Singapore looked forward to expanding cooperation in existing and new fields of mutual interest, and enhancing bilateral exchanges especially high-level visits.-PNP