On Wednesday, 21 August 2024, Ambassador Dato' Azhar, delivered a keynote address on "Fostering Multidimensional Malaysia-Pakistan Relations in the Context of ASEAN", at the National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST), Islamabad. The Event was organised by NUST Institute of Policy Studies (NIPS). The event was attended by numbers of incumbent and government functionaries, senior diplomats, veteran defence officials, academics, experts, researchers, and students.
In his keynote remarks, Ambassador Dato' Azhar said that Pakistan and Malaysia hold similar stances on key international issues, underscoring deep understanding between the two friendly countries. The elevation of Pakistan-Malaysia relationship to the level of strategic partnership in 2019, had provided a comprehensive bilateral cooperation framework that would continue reinforcing this commonality.
Amb. Dato' Azhar further mentioned that Malaysia would host ASEAN Summit 2025 under its chairmanship, opening up new vistas of growth, development, and cooperation. The High Commissioner stressed that Pakistan had immense development potential, adding that Malaysia could help Pakistan deepen cooperation with the ASEAN community of 10 nations, comprising a population count of approximately 670 million people with over $3 trillion in GDP.
He maintained that ASEAN-Pakistan trade was nearly $11 billion in 2022, could reach $20 billion by 2030. The dignitary highlighted that while benefitting from the complementary strengths being natural partners for cooperation, both Malaysia and Pakistan ought to work in unison towards fostering partnerships in agriculture, education, IT, digital economy, capacity building, textile industry, Halal industry, tourism, green energy, and sustainable development. The address was followed by comments from the audience, highlighting the security, economic, political, social, and cultural aspects of bilateral cooperation.
Earlier, Dr Osman Hasan, NUST Pro-Rector Academics, warmly greeted the High Commissioner upon his arrival at NUST. In his remarks, the Pro-Rector highlighted that Malaysia-Pakistan higher education cooperation was one of the key drivers of the long-term development of the bilateral relationship.
