ISLAMABAD : German Foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock , who had arrived Islamabad on a 2 -day visit to Pakistan cut short her maiden tour after testing positive of COVID -19 .
Pakistan’s Foreign minister , Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, received his German counterpart on arrival at Noor Khan airbase in Rawalpindi on Tuesday. Soon after arrival , the visiting Foreign minister held a detailed meeting with state minister for Foreign Affairs, Hina Rabani Khar, and other senior officials of the ministry .
German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) quoted a spokesperson of the Foreign ministry saying that German Foreign minister had felt at an official lunch that she had lost the taste and later test confirmed her contracting of COVID -19 .
Following the report of testing positive , German Foreign minister cut short her visit to Pakistan. German Foreign minister was due to visit some other countries on conclusion of 2-day visit to Pakistan .
Bilawal Bhutto expressed his hope that German Foreign minister will recover from COVID infection soon.
Earlier , at a joint press conference with Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, at Foreign Office in Islamabad, Annalena Baerbock said Pakistan and Germany have common goals and both counties will work together to push forward their mutual agenda . She said Pakistan and Germany were important trade partners and they will keep on searching for more evenues to enhance bilateral trade. She said Pak-German relationship has completed 70 years and both counties intend to take them to the new heights in the future .
Referring to the Afghan issue, German Foreign minister said the Taliban were taking their country to the wrong direction. She noted that the Taliban’s strategy was against their international commitments. She added that the Taliban have deprieved Afghan women of their right to education, besides shutting doors on them for jobs . She said Taliban were supressing dissident voices in the country.
On environment issue, the visiting Foreign minister said Pakistan and Germany have serious concern over the growing envirnmental challenges and they will play a vibrant role in addressing the environmental issues.
Bilawal Bhutto told the press conference that Pakistan has a clear policy towards Afghanistan and want to see stable and prosperous Afghanistan in its neighbour . He said international community should move quickly to help Afghanistan to save its people from hunger and killing poverty. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari added that the Taliban government should honour their committment to the international community and observe human rights, besides ensuring protecting of dissidents to improve the image of tjhe country.
Prior to the joint press conference, both leaders had delegation level talks to discuss bilateral and global issues at Foreign Office .
