Foreign policy to be reviewed if PML-N voted to power: Nawaz
22 March, 2013
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif on Thursday promised to carry out a thorough and comprehensive review of national security and foreign policy if his party is voted to power in the forthcoming general elections. Speaking to the European ambassadors at a luncheon meeting hosted in his honour by the German ambassador on behalf of the European Union, Nawaz said that review of the whole paradigm of national security and foreign policy is to bring it in consonance with the hopes and aspirations of the people. Consequently, it would make concerted efforts to enhance and strengthen Pakistan's relations with its proven and time-tested friends, while at the same time pursuing a policy of normalisation with countries with which we have differences, so as to seek their resolution through peaceful negotiations, the PML-N president added. He also emphasised that political ties with foreign countries would be reinforced by economic and commercial linkages. In this context, he called upon the European ambassadors to assist in promoting trade and investment in Pakistan, as this would not only strengthen the country' s economy but its domestic institutions as well. Spelling out his priorities, Nawaz emphasised that his party's highest priority would be the country's economy, with special focus on both immediate as well as long-term measures, to ensure an early end to the crippling energy shortages that have most adversely impacted on the national economy, while also causing immense sufferings to the people. Briefing the foreign envoys on his party's manifesto for the forthcoming elections, Nawaz pointed out that in view of the enormous damage done in the country and its institutions over the past decade, the party recognised that the challenges ahead of it related not only to re-establishing the supremacy of law and ensuring respect for the democratic institutions but also creating a society based on social justice, while ensuring well-being of all its citizen, without any discrimination and with no tolerance for extremism and militancy. Earlier, German Ambassador Dr Cyrill Nunn expressed his profound thanks to Nawaz Sharif for finding time to brief the European ambassadors on his party's policies and programmes, especially in the context of the forthcoming general elections in Pakistan. He said that European countries viewed Pakistan as an important country, located in a highly sensitive region, and it was therefore a matter of great satisfaction for them to see democracy and the rule of law being strengthened in the country, and added that the European countries, both bilaterally and in the context of the European Union, would seek to enhance their ties with Pakistan, especially in the economic sphere. The PML-N leader was accompanied by Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Senator Ishaq Dar. End.
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