Minister For Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi Phones UK Counterpart; Wishes Well For Corona-hit British PM, Prince Charles

Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi Saturday held a telephonic conversation with British Foreign Secretary Dominc Raab and exchanged views on the global efforts to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Mar, 2020 ) :Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi Saturday held a telephonic conversation with British Foreign Secretary Dominc Raab and exchanged views on the global efforts to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic.

Expressing condolences over the loss of life in the United Kingdom by the coronavirus, the foreign minister conveyed his good wishes for early recovery of Prince Charles and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who had also been tested positive for the Covid-19 disease.

Qureshi apprised his counterpart that the British nationals residing in Pakistan were being taken care of and assured of their return after the normalcy.

He also apprised Dominic Raab of the measures being taken by Pakistan to contain the spread of the coronavirus and also thanked the British government for taking special care of the Pakistani expatriates in the UK.

While highlighting the situation in Indian Occupied Kashmir, the foreign minister said the territory had been facing shortage of food and medical supplies due to the Indian lockdown for the last eight months and around eight million Kashmiris were awaiting the world support for their riddance from the Indian oppression.

Qureshi told the UK foreign secretary that the developing countries were facing severe economic constraints while fighting the pandemic and reiterated Prime Minister Imran Khan's proposal for restructuring loans of such countries to make them spend their resources to save human lives.

He said the United Nation secretary general and the managing director of the International Monetary Fund had also given encouraging remarks in that regard. He hoped that being a member of the G-7 and G-20 countries, the UK would play its role to carry forward the said proposal.

The UK foreign secretary hinted at raising the proposal of restructuring of the loans at the appropriate forum.

Both the sides agreed to keep up the consultation for mutual cooperation against the pandemic.