Integration is the way forward: envoy to UK

Hassan Khan, dailytimes.com.pk

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Hassan Khan sat down recently with Syed Ibne Abbas, a career diplomat currently serving as Pakistan's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. He has previously served as High Commissioner to New Zealand and Consul General in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Excerpt:

Q: The high commission has been working on various public and cultural diplomatic initiatives [JB emphasis] round the clock with the main highlight being promoting an ‘Emerging Pakistan’. What kind of response has been garnered amongst the local community and London’s diplomatic circles?

A: I think the theme of ‘Emerging Pakistan’ was really exciting from our point of view because we thought that Pakistan was truly emerging given how investments started flowing once again when the security situation improved in recent times. This is especially true with the inception of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that is considered to be a crowning glory given how the national economic outlook had improved. International credit rating agencies also placed the country amongst emerging markets from frontier markets which signified the rise. Last year, we celebrated 70th independence anniversary of the nation whose preparations were initiated much earlier back in 2016 with key goals being to project cultural and public diplomacy in a truly unique manner. We also tried to neutralise negative perceptions of the country that had come to exist over a period of time with these measures. So, with all said and done, what we did last year was a resounding success. You mentioned about how the diplomatic community took this venture over. I think they are quite smart for they analysed our initiatives from a strategic point of view and did not take such things at face value. After due diligence, they came to believe that we were doing the right thing and with the emergence of CPEC, things really did turn around for it was looked upon as a beneficial opportunity. ...