Pakistan-Finland Bilateral Consultations

Islamabad: Today, bilateral consultations were held between Pakistan and Finland at the Foreign Office. The Finnish side was led by Mr. Jaakko Laajava, Under Secretary of State of the Republic of Finland and the Pakistan side by Mr. Abdul Basit, Additional Secretary (Europe and FODP). The last round of consultation was held in Helsinki in July 2007.

Later, the Under Secretary of State Mr. Jaakko Laajava also called on Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir. They reviewed a broad-range of bilateral issues and noted that excellent relations between the two countries needed to be translated into more meaningful cooperation particularly in the fields of trade and investment.

At the bilateral consultations, both sides expressed their satisfaction at the current state of bilateral relations and reiterated their mutual desire to further expand and diversify these mutually beneficial relations. They also underscored the need to establish supporting mechanisms to achieve this objective.

In this regard, several proposals were discussed, including establishing a Joint Economic Commission and a Joint Business Council.

Views were also exchanged on Afghanistan, counterterrorism, Pakistan-India relations, “Arab Spring” Euro zone debt crisis, UN reforms and issues at the Conference on Disarmament.

The Finnish Under Secretary applauded the role Pakistan was playing in fighting extremism and terrorism and the tremendous sacrifices it had made both in terms of human and material losses. He also assured that Finland would continue to support Pakistan bilaterally in the EU.

For more information, contact:
Syed Haider Ali Jafri
Personal Secretary
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Government of Pakistan
Tel: +9251 921 0335 and 9056604