On Tuesday, 7 May 2024, Mr. Mohd Syafik Firdaus Bin Hasbullah, Charge' d'Affaires a.i. attended the Second Round of Dialogue between the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) and the ASEAN Committee in Islamabad (ACI). Mr. Mohd Syafik was accompanied by Mr. Muhammad Zulasri Bin Rosdi, First Secretary of the High Commission. The event was attended by seven (7) Islamabad-based ASEAN Heads of Mission / Charge' d' Affaires (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam). The ASEAN delegation was led by the current ACI Chair, Ambassador Maria Agnes M. Cervantes, Ambassador of the Philippines to Pakistan, while Ambassador Sohail Mahmood, Director General ISSI, led the ISSI side.
In his opening remarks, Ambassador Sohail Mahmood highlighted the special significance Pakistan attaches to ASEAN as part of its “Vision East Asia.” While noting ASEAN’s standing as a global economic powerhouse and a successful model of regional cooperation, he underlined Pakistan’s growing engagement with ASEAN member states, both bilaterally and on the institutional plane. Among other things, he noted that the two-way trade volume between Pakistan and ASEAN had reached USD11.8 billion, highlighting the potential for further growth with the USD3 trillion economy of the region. Tracing the history of Pakistan’s Sectoral Dialogue with ASEAN he emphasized the efforts being made for its elevation to Full Dialogue Partnership status.
Ambassador Sohail Mahmood also highlighted the initiatives taken by the ISSI for promoting Pakistan-ASEAN relations, which include establishing a first-of-its-kind “ASEAN Corner” in the ISSI Library last year. For the future, the Institute plans to organize activities that help raise awareness about ASEAN and its global significance, strengthen mutual trade ties and economic collaboration, and promote academic and research linkages as part of people-to-people contacts.
Ambassador Maria Cervantes emphasized that the cooperation between Pakistan and ASEAN is important. She acknowledged the importance Pakistan attaches to Full Dialogue Partnership with ASEAN and assured support in Pakistan’s efforts as well as those of the ISSI in this regard.
Mr. Mohd Syafik on behalf of Malaysia stated that Malaysia and Pakistan has a long standing history of cooperation in multiple fields especially in trade, education, tourism and people-to-people connection. Mr. Syafik, also emphasised the agreement signed between ISSI and Malaysia’s think tank, Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies (IAIS) in November 2023 and wished to further connect more thinks tanks collaboration between the two countries.
At the closure, ACI and ISSI agreed that deepening Pakistan-ASEAN cooperation across diverse domains — political and security, economic, and socio-cultural — was the most desirable pathway. It was further agreed for both sides to focus on special publications on ASEAN-ISSI collaboration, promote exchanges between respective business communities, and strengthen links between think-tanks on both sides.
