Ambassador briefs NDU delegation about regional and global issues

Says external environment undergoing profound changes as new configurations.

NEW YORK: A delegation of the National Defence University Islamabad visited the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations.

The delegation, led by Chief Instructor NDU Major General Naeem Akhtar, consisted of 12 participants, who are currently attending a national security and war course.

Ambassador Munir Akram, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, briefed the delegates about the prevailing global and regional issues as well as Pakistan’s role at the United Nations.

He said the external environment was undergoing profound changes as new configurations in the international order marked by technology, geostrategic conflicts, competition between the major powers and climate change were emerging to reshape the global order.

“As the world transition from the unipolar world order to what I call ‘bipolar plus’ order, the countries are bound to adapt to the changing external environment,” he said.

Ambassador Akram emphasized that the countries needed to carefully weigh the pros and cons of the developments in the global foreign policy arena to be able to calibrate befitting policy responses to them.

He explained Pakistan’s active participation within the UN system and said that the country was effectively leveraging the different organs of the world body to highlight the issues of vital strategic importance.

He informed the delegates that Pakistan’s election to the United Nations Security as a non-permanent member for the term 2025-26 would provide an opportunity to promote international and regional peace and stability.

The Pakistan UN envoy also shone light on the efforts that the Pakistan Mission was engaged in to secure implementation of the UNSC resolutions on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute and highlight the rights abuses in IIOJK at the hands of the Indian occupation forces. He also talked about Pakistan’s vital contribution to the peacekeeping operations under the umbrella of the United Nations.

Ambassador Akram explained that Pakistan’s position on the various regional and global issues was in alignment with the principles and objectives of the UN Charter. He said that despite imperfections and failings, the UN was still a useful multilateral forum where developing countries had an equality of right to represent themselves on a host of issues.

Talking about the foreign policy challenges facing Pakistan, Ambassador Akram termed terrorism as a leading threat to national security and threw light on the sacrifices Pakistan had made in the war on terrorism.

Ambassador Akram also briefed the delegates about the upcoming Summit of the Future in September this year and the likely conclusion of the Pact for the Future and stated that Pakistan was actively involved in the negotiation process in consultation with a group of likeminded countries.

The talk was followed by Q&A session in which the participants asked the Pakistan UN envoy about challenges of peacekeeping; the ongoing Gaza conflict in the Middle East; paralysis of the UN Security Council and Sino-US competition.

The delegates visited the United Nations headquarters where the Office of the Military Affairs (OMA) briefed them about peacekeeping operations.

DPR Usman Jadoon and the officers of the Pakistan Mission were also present on the occasion.

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