On 15 May 2024, Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, hosted the sixth political consultations between Latvia and Pakistan. During the consultations, the Under Secretary, Political Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, Andžejs Viļumsons, and the Additional Secretary for Europe at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, Shafqat Ali Khan, discussed bilateral relations between the two countries, the EU-Pakistan dialogue, cooperation in international organisations, as well as global and regional security challenges in Europe and Asia.
The parties underlined the successful cooperation so far in international organisations and agreed on the need to intensify trade cooperation. As regards economic cooperation, the Latvian diplomat emphasized that a considerable potential exists in the field of information and communication technologies. Work should also continue on the development of a bilateral legal framework. Andžejs Viļumsons also explained Latvia’s position on the war waged by Russia against Ukraine and he invited Pakistan to participate in the Ukraine Peace Summit scheduled for June in Switzerland.
The consultations provided the Latvian and Pakistani diplomats with an opportunity to offer in-depth explanations of their countries’ positions on key foreign policy issues, including the situation in Ukraine, the Middle East and Afghanistan.
As part of his visit, Andžejs Viļumsons also met with the Foreign Secretary at Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi, the Ambassador of the European Union to Pakistan, Riina Kionka, as well as several Pakistani foreign policy experts.
The previous round of political consultations took place on 7 May 2019 in Riga.