Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry paid an official visit to Stockholm

Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry paid an official visit to Stockholm, Sweden from February 16-19, 2016.

During the visit, he led the Pakistan delegation at the final preparatory Sherpa meeting of the 4th Nuclear Security Summit, to be held in Washington DC at the end of March 2016.

Besides attending the Sherpa meeting, the Foreign Secretary also met his Swedish counterpart, State Secretary Ms. Annika Soder and other senior Swedish officials, on February 19.

During the meeting, both sides agreed to build on the positive momentum generated by the meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Prime Minister Stefan Lofven on September 26, 2015, on the sidelines of the UNGA session in New York.

The Foreign Secretary briefed the Swedish officials on Pakistan’s successful counterterrorism efforts as well as steps taken for economic revival. He emphasized the need to enhance bilateral trade and investment, particularly through Swedish investment in energy, transport and defence.

The Foreign Secretary briefed his Swedish interlocutor on Pakistan’s efforts for peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan and recent developments in Pakistan-India relations.

In other engagements, Foreign Secretary met senior officials of China, Italy, Turkey, New Zealand, Mexico and Switzerland.  Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Sweden, Mr. Tariq Zameer, hosted a reception at the Embassy where the Foreign Secretary interacted with members of the Pakistani community.