ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday said the establishment of a “humanitarian trust fund” to help the people of Afghanistan in terms of humanitarian assistance and adoption of a resolution for the revival of that nation’s banking regime were great successes.
The fund will be set up under the Islamic Development Bank (ISDB) to channel aid to Afghanistan in coordination with other groups, a meeting of foreign ministers from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held in Islamabad Sunday.
A final statement from the meeting said that allowing Afghanistan access to its financial resources would be pivotal to preventing economic collapse and said realistic pathways to unfreezing billions of dollars in frozen central bank reserves should be explored.
The foreign minister, in a statement, said Allah had bestowed Pakistan great respect and success under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Qureshi said the participation of 20 foreign ministers, 10 deputy foreign ministers and 437 delegates was a huge success for Islamabad, and the great breakthrough made possible with the coordination between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
“It is not a matter of the Taliban but 38 million people of Afghanistan who are faced with hunger and famine. They urgently need medicine and food,” he remarked.
He further said the schools could also function only when the government would have the resources to pay salaries.
He said the United States must review its policy considering the public needs.
He also thanked all relevant institutions and individuals for putting in their efforts to hold the moot including the Foreign Office staff, National Assembly speaker, Senate, armed forces, and the media.
