Pakistani FM calls for stronger multilateral platforms

Diplomacy and dialogue remain the only viable path toward resolving global conflicts, said Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, urging the international community to strengthen multilateral mechanisms and support peaceful development.

"This is a serious time," Dar told China Daily in an exclusive interview at Pakistan's permanent mission to the United Nations in New York. "We've seen many conflicts in the recent past, and many are ongoing; Gaza, Jammu and Kashmir, various crises in the Middle East.

"We need to work harder from all platforms, whether it's the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, BRICS or ASEAN, to ensure global peace and security," he said. "So that billions of people can live with peace of mind."

Dar's remarks come as Pakistan holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council for the month of July, offering the country a platform to advocate strengthened multilateralism and a rules-based international order.

Calling for "more peaceful resolutions", Dar emphasized that challenges exist not only in new institutions but also in old ones.

"The oldest is the UN. And look at what is happening," he said, referring to the Security Council's divisions on conflicts like Gaza and Ukraine. "The system was created 80 years ago. These institutions were created in San Francisco with the idea of having some international law and order.

"So this multilateral institution is supposed to be responsible for keeping peace and security in the world," Dar said. "Gradually, particularly in the last couple of decades and more recently in the past few years, we have seen that discipline is getting weaker and weaker.

"We have seen ... Gaza, the way people have been killed, 58,000, and then humanitarian aid blocked. Then we saw a series of problems in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Libya, Iraq. So it looks like the system has gone from weak to weaker," he said.

In this context, Dar said, Pakistan supports reform of the Security Council, including proposals by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

"We are all trying to support UN Security Council reform. We were elected members for two years, starting from Jan 1, 2025, to Dec 31, 2026," Dar said. "We believe that it is the responsibility of the UN Security Council to work diligently to ensure that peace and security remain globally available and visible."

Dar praised China's efforts to promote dialogue and peaceful dispute settlement, including the recent establishment of the International Organization for Mediation in Hong Kong.

"This is a great initiative of China," he said. "The whole idea is mediation, resolving disputes through mediation."

He contrasted it with older mechanisms such as the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, "which works on principles of litigation and prosecution, etc".The ICSID is an international arbitration institution established by the World Bank in 1966.

China also had the initiative to create the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in 2014-15, he said. "I was involved as Pakistan's finance minister, and I am a founding signatory. Pakistan is one of the 33 founding members as of May 30."

Strengthening ties

On the bilateral front, Dar said that China and Pakistan share a relationship that is "unmatched in warmth and strategic depth".

"We are iron brothers. We are all-weather friends. We have taken our economic, political and security relationships to a new, higher level," he said.

On July 15, Dar met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Tianjin on the sidelines of the Meeting of the Council of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of SCO Member States, during which the member states agreed to hold the SCO Summit in Tianjin from Aug 31 to Sept 1.

"We had an excellent meeting," Dar said. "On the lighter side, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told me that this year, he has met me more than any other foreign minister, which is true. We met on May 20, then again on May 30, then again just last week in Tianjin. And we're going to meet again in August."

"China will be hosting the summit happily, as always. These summits help the region economically and multilaterally," he said. "Such activities not only bring member states together, but help find better ways forward for economic and trade cooperation."

Dar also emphasized Pakistan's vision for regional connectivity, particularly through infrastructure and energy corridors that can benefit multiple countries.

A cornerstone of China-Pakistan cooperation is the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, launched in 2013 as a flagship project of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.

The corridor links Gwadar Port in Pakistan with Kashgar in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Its first phase prioritized energy, transportation and industrial development. In its ongoing second phase, the scope has broadened to include agriculture, livelihood improvement and other areas of socioeconomic development.

He said that Pakistan has proposed extending the economic corridor to Afghanistan, a move that could provide the landlocked country with greater access to regional trade and investment.

"We've had bilateral meetings, and trilateral ones with Afghanistan. The closeness of our relationship is in the larger interest of both countries," he said.

In a recent diplomatic push, Foreign Minister Wang Yi chaired an informal trilateral meeting of the foreign ministers of China, Afghanistan and Pakistan in Beijing on May 21.

The three sides spoke positively of the outcomes of the China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Foreign Ministers' Dialogue and held what officials described as a friendly and in-depth exchange on expanding trilateral cooperation and deepening the existing mechanism.

As Pakistan wraps up its presidency of the UN Security Council, Dar said the month has reinforced his belief in multilateralism and cooperation over confrontation.

On July 22, Pakistan hosted a high-level open debate on "Promoting International Peace and Security through Multilateralism and Peaceful Settlement of Disputes", chaired by Dar.

During the meeting, the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on strengthening mechanisms for the peaceful settlement of disputes, which Dar called "a very memorable document" and "rare" for gaining consensus among all 15 members.

"If we act upon it according to the spirit in which it was passed, I assure you, world problems can begin to see the light of a solution," he said.

Dar emphasized that countries of the Global South, including Pakistan, have an important role to play in international institutions and advancing peaceful solutions.

UN Secretary-General Guterres, who also spoke at the debate, urged Security Council members to overcome political divisions. He called for stronger partnerships between the Security Council and regional organizations, and reminded all UN member states to uphold their obligations under the UN Charter, international human rights law and international humanitarian law.