By NNN-APP,
London : President Asif Ali Zardari, US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown will co-chair the first Friends of Democratic Pakistan (FODP) Summit, to be held on September 24 in New York on the margins of United Nations General Assembly Session.
The forthcoming summit-level rendezvous will be attended by the FODP members including USA, UK, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Japan, Norway, The Netherlands, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, UAE, Asian Development Bank, European Commission, European Union, Islamic Development Bank, United Nations, World Bank.
The FoDP summit to be held in New York next week will affirm world powers’ support for Pakistani efforts to tide over economic and security challenges confronting the nation, Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani was quoted as saying.
The September 24 summit – to be co-chaired by President Asif Ali Zardari, U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown – is going to be a landmark event as it will bring together top leaders from 26 countries and international organizations on the occasion of UN General Assembly session.
Pursuing well-articulated policies, vision and approach, the elected dispensation in Pakistan has put the country on the rails of an impressive transition to democracy which is reflective of sovereign parliament, independent judiciary, free media and robust civil society.
President Asif Ali Zardari had launched the FODP initiative in September last year in New York. There was a consensus at the Friends of Democratic Pakistan forum (FoDP) meetings held so far that besides providing help in the war on terror, the focus would also be accorded to energy and infrastructure development in Pakistan. FODP is an effective forum to addressing security and development challenges.
At Istanbul, the ministerial level meeting of the forum unanimously adopted the vision for reconstruction of Swat and Malakand. The meeting appreciated the success of the military offensive in Swat, impressive handling of the IDPs by Pakistan and their ultimate return to their homes.
The ministerial meeting in the Turkish capital was an important foray in the preparatory process for the summit-level meeting, scheduled to be held on the fringes of the United Nations General Assembly session.
FODP Ministerial meetings are not one-time event but part of long term engagements and partnerships with the Friends of Democratic Pakistan as the forum is hugely significant initiative.
It has been palpably explained to the member countries of FODP that Pakistan is determined to transform the challenges into opportunities, which is not only in the interest of Islamabad but also in paramount interest of regional and global peace and security.
FODP process is aimed at underpinning Pakistan’s capacity and strength, and the forum partners have already assured the government of Pakistan that they were well poised to actively engage in the reconstruction process and assist Islamabad in implementing projects at the affected areas.
Pakistani leadership has religiously supervised the process of preparation for strategy documents and projects under five clusters of development including energy, institution building, security, trade and finance.
The Tokyo Ministerial sitting was an important milestone as well as landmark achievement during the short but well-directed voyage of FODP, which laid down broad parameters of the process and identified key sectors for cooperation.
The upcoming first summit-level moot is being characterized as defining turn in the FODP process as strong Pakistan on the trajectory of development and prosperity, provides unyielding bulwark against retrograde elements and forces.
Imposing transition to democracy, state institutions and efficacy of national resolve have paved the path for converting the predicaments and daunting challenges into unique opportunities to garner sustained development and well being in diverse areas.
FODP process is destined to unleash much-needed results, provided the work on projects in all areas, proceed unabatedly in integrated, transparent and sustained manner. The FODP forum will lend unabated cooperation and support to inherent strengths and underpinnings of the democratic set up in Pakistan by helping build capacity of national and local institutions and assisting in durable private-public partnerships.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has billed FODP as partnership, based on friendship and understanding. The forum is not a substitute to bilateral relations, rather another effective means to further beef up and upgrade the level of bilateral ties with FODP partners.
FODP is not just a forum of pledges for Pakistan, rather the country is trying earnest and unflinching efforts to engage the international community for its development in different sectors.
Development projects prepared by Pakistan government for the welfare of the masses and the most important the Malakand Development project were discussed threadbare at the ministerial moot in Istanbul.
The projects presented in the ministerial meeting in Turkey were adopted unanimously and Pakistan’s vision and approach was highly appreciated. FODP is the concept for political engagement of the friends and to make efforts to get more diplomatic space for Pakistan.