FM Qureshi, Malaysian counterpart discuss Covid-19 situation

He commended the steps taken by the Malaysian authorities to contain the virus

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and his Malaysian counterpart Hishamuddin Hussein on Wednesday discussed the COVID-19 situation in their countries and exchanged views on ways to control the pandemic.

Qureshi, in a telephonic contact with the Malaysian foreign minister, underscored that the infection rates and fatalities of both Pakistan and Malaysia were similar and required effective measures.

He commended the steps taken by the Malaysian authorities to contain the virus and apprised his Malaysian counterpart of the measures being adopted by Pakistan.

He felicitated Foreign Minister Hussain on his recent appointment to the important position and offered condolences for the loss of precious lives in the pandemic.

Qureshi also thanked the Malaysian foreign minister for looking after Pakistani nationals based in Malaysia, as well as facilitating others at the airports.

He briefed the Malaysian foreign minister about Prime Minister Imran Khan’s initiative for debt relief and restructuring to enable developing countries to save human lives and support their economies.

The foreign minister highlighted developments in the Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IOJ&K), where taking advantage of the world’s preoccupation with the pandemic, the Bharatiya Janata Party government had amended domicile rules in a bid to change the disputed region’s demography.

In view of the pandemic emergency, he called for removal of all restrictions on movement and communication in the IOJ&K, ensuring unfettered supply of medicines and other essentials as well as release of all political prisoners.

Earlier, in a telephone call to his Singaporean counterpart Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, the foreign minister said Pakistan looked forward to learn from Singapore’s experience in the field of epidemiology as the country took deft measures to contain spread of Coronavirus.

He commended Singapore’s handling of the public health crisis, saying timely measures helped in containing the spread of the virus.

The FM also evinced interest in the Singapore’s application ‘TraceTogether’ to break the chain of transmission.

‘TraceTogether’ supports Singapore’s efforts to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 through community-driven contact tracing. It uses Bluetooth signals to determine if someone is near another TraceTogether user, making proximity data encrypted and stored on the phone.

Qureshi thanked the Singapore government for facilitating the return of Pakistani nationals from Singapore.

The Singapore Foreign Minister also appreciated Pakistan’s support in the repatriation of Singaporean nationals from Pakistan.

Foreign Minister Qureshi highlighted Prime Minister Imran Khan’s call for debt relief and restructuring to help developing countries create the fiscal space needed to combat the disease, save precious human lives and shore up economies.

The two Foreign Ministers agreed to stay engaged on Covid-19 and other matters of mutual interest.