INAUGURATION OF ‘ASEAN CORNER’ AT INSTITUTE OF STRATEGIC STUDIES ISLAMABAD (ISSI)

On Monday, 23 October 2023, Ambassador Azhar as the Chair of ASEAN Committee in Islamabad (ACI) participated in the inauguration ceremony of "ASEAN Corner" at Institute of Strategic Studies in Islamabad (ISSI). Foreign Minister, Jalil Abbas Jilani graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. His Excellency the High Commissioner was accompanied by Mr. Nor Azuan Bin Haji Ayub, Third Secretary of the High Commission. The event was attended by the ASEAN Heads of Mission, scholars, students, media, and business representatives.

The establishment of ‘ASEAN Corner’ was aimed at creating a deeper understanding of ASEAN and its role as a successful regional intergovernmental body. The event was followed by a round table discussion titled “Forging Partnership: Exploring the Future Prospects of Pakistan-ASEAN Relations,”. It highlighted ASEAN’s global role and reinforced the effort to further strengthen Pakistan-ASEAN relations.  In his address, Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to ASEAN member states and called for collaborative solutions to shared challenges like climate change and terrorism. He underscored the success of ASEAN and its relevance to Pakistan. FM Jilani stressed Pakistan’s readiness to collaborate with ASEAN on confidence-building, conflict prevention, and international order based on peaceful coexistence and shared prosperity. 

Speaking in his capacity as the Chair of ACI, Ambassador Azhar expressed gratitude to those present. He highlighted the deepening relations between ASEAN and Pakistan while underscoring the success and achievements of ASEAN as a regional organization. He stressed that ways should be explored for deepening ASEAN-Pakistan relations in the three pillars of political-security, trade-economic, and socio-cultural. Ambassador Azhar lauded the significance of the signing of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in November 2020 with five trading partners, underscoring ASEAN's role as a benchmark of "open regionalism".

He added that the ASEAN region with a combined young dynamic population base of 670 million has immense potential. Evidently, Pakistan with its 240-million population offered a huge market for ASEAN and vice-versa. With an aggregate GDP exceeding USD 3 trillion, ASEAN now ranked as the fifth-largest economy globally, poised to ascend to the fourth spot by 2050. While Pakistan was forecasted to be the 16^th largest economy by 2050. He stated that over the years, ASEAN-Pakistan cooperation had expanded in key sectors, among others, in trade and investment, agriculture, education, culture and tourism, capacity building and technical cooperation. In 2022, the total trade between ASEAN and Pakistan approached a significant milestone of USD 11 billion. Considering the immense potential, Ambassador Azhar was confident that the figure could increase to USD 20 billion by 2030.