ISLAMABAD - Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Thursday said that the government would take all parties into confidence on regional and international affairs.
Addressing the meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs here, the Foreign Minister said he would take the members of the committee into confidence.
The meeting was held at the National Assembly Secretariat under the chairmanship of Malik Muhammad Ehsanullah Tiwana, Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs.
The meeting reviewed the report and implementation of the previous recommendations of the committee, said an official statement.
“The meeting also reviewed the current situation in Afghanistan and the implications of the announcement of the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan,” it said.
Qureshi said the foreign ministry invites all political parties for briefing on Afghanistan.
The purpose of the briefing was to take the leadership of the parliamentary parties into confidence on the changing situation in Afghanistan and to use their views, he added.
“In this regard, a detailed briefing was also given to the parliamentarians in the recent meeting of the National Security Committee,” he added.
Qureshi said in future too, “when parliamentary parties need clarification on a policy issue, they will be briefed.”
Separately, addressing the launching ceremony of 4G broadband services in Multan and Khanewal districts, the Foreign Minister said the government was constantly striving to improve the people’s quality of life and economic well-being by ensuring availability of accessible, affordable, reliable and high quality digital services.
He said the government firmly believed in mass adoption of emerging digital technologies and innovative applications to ensure cross- sectoral socio-economic development and transformation of governance model, social interaction and achievement of Sustainable Development Goals.
The Foreign Minister said Pakistan was one of the first countries to endorse the SDGs. He said the government’s long-term development agenda and provincial development strategies are aligned with the SDGs.
Qureshi said inclusion of the UN’s SDGs 2030 in Pakistan’s national development agenda was reflective of its political commitment to ensure an across-the-board uplift of its people.
The Foreign Minister said Pakistan in pursuance of SDGs had adopted certain areas on priority basis including hunger eradication, health and fitness, quality education and economic growth.
The Universal Service Fund (USF) under the Ministry of Information Technology awarded a contract of Rs154 million to Jazz for providing high-speed mobile broadband services in Multan and Khanewal districts of the southern Punjab.
The Foreign Minister said information communication technologies and global connectivity were important to enhance human development, eliminate digital divide and build knowledge societies.
Qureshi said promotion of ICT could prove helpful in poverty alleviation by making markets digitally accessible for farmers and improve food security.
He said the efficient use of information communication technology was an effective measure to combat the COVID-19 situation by raising awareness campaigns through mobile networks, data collection and analysis, epidemic geo-fencing, and vaccination records.
He recalled that during coronavirus pandemic, the government gave away Rs203 billion to 15 million poor families through digital cash system under the Ehsaas Emergency Programme.
The Foreign Minister said ICT could help achieve the SDG in education sector by opening up avenues of knowledge for students in remote areas with limited resources. In this regard, he mentioned the e-education portal set up by the Ministry of Education for distant learning.
Speaking on the occasion, Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication Syed Amin-ul-Haque said his ministry through USF had contracted projects worth Rs6.5 billion to provide high speed internet to the 3.8 million people in Southern Punjab. These include six high speed mobile broadband projects and three optic fibre cable projects.
He said a total of Rs708 million would be spent for provision of high-speed broadband services in districts of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan and Bahawalnagar, which would benefit 2.6 million people in 846 villages.
Similarly, he said, in Dera Ghazi Khan division, the districts D.G. Khan, Layyah, Muzaffargarh and Rajanpur would be provided broadband services with Rs141 million besides Rs4.47 billion to be spent on three projects related to the laying of optic fibre cable.
Amin-ul-Haque said with completion of these projects, an area of about 2,000 sq. km would be connected with optic fibre cable and provide fastest broadband services to 393 villages with a population of over 0.85 million.
On the occasion, CEO USF Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary with CEO Jazz Aamir Ibrahim inked the contracts for provision of broadband services in South Punjab