The Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Benedetto Della Vedova, will be visiting Pakistan today and tomorrow, 15-16 June 2015.
In Islamabad he will meet members of the government, including the Prime Minister’s Special Assistant, Ambassador Syed Tariq Fatemi; the Minister for Commerce, Dastagir Khurram Khan; the Minister for Petroleum, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi; and the Minister of State for the Interior, Mohammed Baligh Ur Reman. Meetings with the Speaker of the National Assembly, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, and with parliamentarians from the Italy-Pakistan Friendship Group are also scheduled.
While he is in Islamabad Under-Secretary Della Vedova will also be meeting the Archbishop of Karachi, Mons. Joseph Coutts, President of the Episcopal Conference of Pakistan, to discuss the issues of religious freedom and the status of Christian minorities.
Under-Secretary Della Vedova will lead a delegation of Italian businesses operating in Pakistan or interested in exploring opportunities in the country. He will also open a Business Forum organised with local businesses by Pakistan’s Board of Investments, which will be followed by direct meetings between Italian companies and their Pakistani counterparts.
At the Institute for Strategic Studies in Islamabad, the Under-Secretary will address an event attended by representatives of the political and academic communities and other experts. He will discuss Italian-Pakistani bilateral relations from the political, economic, cultural and migration perspectives, as well as the protection of minorities and developments in the Asian context.