NEW YORK(National Times)- Pakistan remained front and centre on Tuesday, amid a flurry of diplomatic activity at UN Headquarters, as world leaders came together to address the 81st General Assembly session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both PM Shehbaz Sharif and Deputy PM Ishaq Dar spent a busy day filled with whirlwind meetings, engaging with leaders from around the world, as they continued to push for a diplomatic solution to the US-Iran war, which has taken a toll on global trade and energy markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although he is scheduled to address the UNGA tomorrow (Thursday), PM Shehbaz was mentioned by US President Donald Trump in his speech, who called him a \u201cterrific man\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe prime minister of Pakistan \u2014 terrific man \u2014 said that Donald Trump was responsible for saving 30 million lives and probably many more than that,\u201d he said as he rattled off a list of conflicts that he claimed to have helped settle: Pakistan-India, Thailand-Cambodia, Armenia-Azerbaijan, and the Gaza conflict, among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pakistan has been vigorously pursuing diplomacy to help bring the United States and Iran back to the negotiating table, even as uncertainty clouded a possible meeting between Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the UNGA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those efforts seem to have borne fruit when, after sending mixed signals during his UNGA speech, President Trump said that his team had met an Iranian delegation on the sidelines of the General Assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was a meeting that lasted for three hours; it ended an hour ago,\u201d Trump told reporters after a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky. \u201cIt was a very good meeting. I can\u2019t imagine why they wouldn\u2019t want to do it; it\u2019s greatness or obliteration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that the meeting was \u201cproductive\u201d and that \u201cThey have another one scheduled in the very near future\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to diplomatic sources at the United Nations, Pakistan has been \u201cquietly but persistently urging\u201d both Washington and Tehran to maintain indirect contacts and \u201cremain positively open\u201d to direct talks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A day earlier, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi had travelled to Tehran and met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni, with the mediation process among the issues discussed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the visit, Iranian officials expressed appreciation for Pakistan\u2019s continuing efforts to promote regional peace and stability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The diplomatic efforts were also appreciated by Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, whose spokesperson said a day earlier that the outgoing UN chief was \u201cvery grateful and appreciative\u201d of the efforts by Pakistan\u2019s leadership to mediate between Washington and Tehran and help end the violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guterres\u2019 spokesman St\u00e9phane Dujarric told a news briefing in New York that Pakistan\u2019s role was \u201ccritical\u201d, and described the understanding reached in Islamabad as \u201ca great achievement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said Guterres had remained in close touch with the Pakistani leadership as part of efforts to achieve the shared objective of ending the conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked about the efforts of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan\u2019s army chief to mediate between Iran and the United States, Dujarric said the UN chief appreciated the Pakistani leadership\u2019s efforts to bring an end to the violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOther countries have also been involved,\u201d he said, \u201cbut I think Pakistan\u2019s role has been critical.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dujarric also endorsed renewed direct engagement between Washington and Tehran, saying the UN \u201calways\u201d supports dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDiplomacy is our middle name, so to speak,\u201d he said, adding that any re-engagement between the United States and Iran, as they had previously pursued, could help bring an end to the conflict, which he said was \u201churting a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iranian President Pezeshkian is expected to address the UN General Assembly today (Wednesday) and hold bilateral meetings with world leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that no meeting with Iranian representatives was currently scheduled, but that Washington was open to such talks if they had the prospect of producing a positive result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iran, meanwhile, has signalled that its delegation in New York has authority to pursue diplomacy. Tehran has also conveyed proposals to Washington through mediators, keeping open the possibility of a return to negotiations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sideline meetings<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Tuesday, Deputy PM Dar participated in a key ministerial meeting of the Regional-4 (R-4) group, where he was joined by the foreign ministers of Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The R-4 group has been focused on regional security and emerged in March amid efforts for mediation between the US and Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the group met in New York, DPM Dar reaffirmed \u201cPakistan\u2019s strong commitment to the R-4 framework and expressed the need for continued engagement for enhancing regional peace and prosperity\u201d, the Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added that the participants exchanged views on the latest situation in the region and expressed full support for efforts aimed at a peaceful resolution of the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A statement issued by the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the UN said that the ministers\u2019 consultative meeting on Sept 21 on the sidelines of the session also discussed recent regional and international developments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe ministers underscored that dialogue and diplomacy remain the only path towards sustainable resolution, and in this context they underscored the need for upholding the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding for lasting peace and stability,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, PM Shehbaz met with several world leaders, including President of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker, Kenyan President William Ruto, and Kuwaiti crown prince Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW YORK(National Times)- Pakistan remained front and centre on Tuesday, amid a flurry of diplomatic activity at UN Headquarters, as world leaders came together to address the 81st General Assembly session. Both PM Shehbaz Sharif and Deputy PM Ishaq Dar spent a busy day filled with whirlwind meetings, engaging with leaders from around the world, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133638,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n