Annalena Baerbock begins her first tour of Pakistan as foreign minister on Tuesday. Evacuations from Afghanistan are expected to be the central issue on her Islamabad docket.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is set to arrive in Islamabad on Tuesday (June 7) for the start of her two-day tour to Pakistan.
The Green party lawmaker will hold talks with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and her counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on bilateral matters and discuss regional and global issues.
According to the German Foreign Ministry, Baerbock will also meet civil society representatives.
It is her first trip to Pakistan as Germany's top diplomat.
"Germany is a valued partner of Pakistan, both bilaterally and in the context of the European Union. The two sides attach special importance to strengthening bilateral cooperation in diverse fields, including trade and investment, energy, defense, and people-to-people contacts," a statement from Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
What's on the agenda?
Baerbock is looking to increase pressure on the Afghan Taliban over human rights and it will be one of the key issues during the foreign minister's Pakistan visit.
Baerbock sees Pakistan as a crucial partner in the evacuation of people from neighboring Afghanistan in need of protection.
Pakistan has been affected more than any other country by the impact of the crisis in Afghanistan and "at the same time is a key partner for us in bringing people out of Afghanistan to safety, for whom we bear responsibility," she said ahead of her tour on Monday.
However, the foreign minister acknowledged that the evacuations had started slowly.
"What is clear is that there are no easy solutions, and certainly no truly satisfactory ones. In view of the catastrophic situation, we must therefore be very pragmatic and need cooperation with a wide variety of actors," she said.
Baerbock will meet staff of the German embassy and the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), which has been working with people who have fled Afghanistan.
Baerbock will also meet Afghan refugees who are in Islamabad and want to leave for Germany.
dvv/rt (AFP, dpa, KNA)
First published: June 7, 2022
Copyright DW - All rights reserved
DW is not responsible for the content of external websites
Source: dw.com
Note: Some of the orginal wording has been edited for publication on InfoMigrants