Ties with Ethiopia needed to be strengthened: Alvi

F.P. Report
ISLAMABAD: President Dr. Arif Alvi has said that bilateral trade and economic relations between Pakistan and Ethiopia needed to be strengthened through facilitating and enhancing interactions between business communities of the two countries.
Speaking during a meeting with Pakistan’s Ambassador designate to Ethiopia Mian Atif Sharif who called on him in Islamabad on Monday, he called for increasing trade volume with Ethiopia by reaching out to Ethiopian businesspersons for the import of Pakistani products. The President said Pakistan-Ethiopia bilateral ties are marked by common history, interests, and support for each other on various international fora. He said that the bilateral relations between the two countries needed to be further cemented by taking the mutual trade volume to its fullest potential.
President Alvi also called for enhancing cooperation in the field of education and people-to-people contacts, adding that students in Ethiopia could benefit from online/video educational materials/ courses of the Virtual University of Pakistan and Allama Iqbal Open University to enhance their skill sets.
He stated that Pakistan’s offer of training young Ethiopian Diplomats at the Foreign Service Academy and scholarships for banking courses would further help improve bilateral ties with Ethiopia. Dr Arif Alvi asked the Ambassador to create awareness in Ethiopia about the rising tide of Islamophobia in the world and the need for collective efforts to promote inter-faith harmony and mutual respect.
He also urged the newly-appointed envoy to highlight the human rights violations and atrocities being committed by India in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) as well as the maltreatment of minorities in India.