Pakistan's diplomatic isolation has ended, says Ishaq Dar
Pakistan
He urged Pakistani-Americans to increase remittances and invest in projects in homeland
NEW YORK (APP) - Pakistan has broken its diplomatic isolation through active diplomacy, with the country’s economy now set to take off as a result of the hard work done by Prime MInister Shehbaz Sharif’s government, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar told members of the Pakistani community.
“We are no longer isolated,” he said at his two-hour interaction with the Pakistani diaspora at the Pakistan consulate in New York.
Pakistan now has many friends in the international community, organised two major international events recently - the SCO Summit and the Conference on Girls’ Education in Muslim Communities, with several heads of state visiting the country - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan being the most recent to express solidarity with the country, Senator Dar added.
He also highlighted Pakistan’s election to the UN Security Council, the world body’s power centre, with a thumping majority of 182 votes for a two-year term - 2025-26.
Present at the well-attended occasion were Ambassador Munir Akram, permanent representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, Ambassador to the United States Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, alternate permanent representative to the UN, and the Consul General in New York, Aamer Atozai.
In his detailed remarks, Senator Dar referred to Pakistan’s ups and downs, pointing out its strong economic position under the leadership of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif between 2013-17, the decline following it that brought the country to the verge of a default and the turn around led by the present government.
On the economic front, he said that the inflation rate had been reduced from 40 per cent to as low as 2.4 per cent in January 2025, leading to a decline in the policy rate. Remittances have showed an increase and the exports have risen leading to stability.
The situation would be further consolidated if all the political parties joined hands — without any conditions — keeping the interests of Pakistan above everything else. Pakistan must come first, he added.
He urged Pakistani-American to increase their remittances and invest in projects in their homeland. In this connection, he told them to contact the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), a facility to act as a “single window” to help investors, establish cooperation among all Government departments, and fast-track project development.
Senator Dar said that Pakistan has bright future — it is blessed with enormous natural resources that successive government were unable to exploit but now work was in progress to tap them.
He also expressed confidence that the government recently launched "Uraan Pakistan" programme would achieve all its set targets.
Referring to the surge in acts of terrorism in Pakistan, the DPM/FM said the menace had almost been eliminated from the country in 2018, however, due to faulty policies of the previous government. In this regard. he said that 3o,000 to 40,000 Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) fighters were allowed to enter into Pakistan was the main factor behind the ongoing terrorist acts
Without uprooting terrorism,” he added, “the country could not attain the targets of growth and development.” The government was resolutely fighting to wipe out terrorism and bring peace to the affected areas.
Earlier, Ambassador Rizwan Sheikh said that New York has most of the one million Pakistanis living in the United States.
They were hardworking, enterprising people and successful in their callings. “You are Pakistani-Americans and will remain Pakistani-Americans,” he said, adding, “you must strengthen that identify,” and continue to promote the interests of Pakistan.
Consul General Aamer Atozai read out a welcome address.
Senator Ishaq Dar also answered questions from the audience, promising to take action on some of the problems they faced and improve the services to the overseas Pakistanis.
Responding to a questions, he said that after EU’s clearance and resumption of PIA flights to Paris, he expected the national airlines to re-start its service to New York.
