ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Tuesday that Pakistan’s ‘Vision East Asia’ policy was not driven by economic impulses only but also by its commitment to play a constructive and meaningful role in South and South East Asia.
According to a press release issued by Pakistan High Commission in Singapore, Qureshi expressed these views in a lecture on ‘Pakistan in the Next Decade, Prospects and Challenges’ at Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore.
He said that Pakistan looked forward to improve relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) through a full dialogue partnership and signing of a free trade agreement with ASEAN in the near future. He added that ASEAN had transformed South-East Asia into a fast growing region and its leadership had displayed a credible political determination to build strong and vibrant economies.
The contours of Pakistan’s ‘Vision East Asia’ policy of 1990s had taken concrete shape over the years, he said adding that bilateral and multilateral ties with South East Asia and the pacific region had been forged due to this policy.
Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ambassador-at-Large Professor Tommy Koh introduced the foreign minister to the audience comprising ambassadors, high commissioners of various countries, intellectuals, students and media persons.
The three core functions of RSIS were research, graduate teaching and networking activities in the Asia-Pacific region. It produced cutting-edge security related research in Asia-Pacific security, conflict and non-transitional security, international political economy and country and area studies.
