ISLAMABAD  -  Caretaker Minister for Foreign Af­fairs Jalil Abbas Jilani took the charge of his office on Friday.

Foreign Minister Jilani, who had taken oath along with other cabinet members on Thursday, has an ex­tensive expertise of foreign affairs. He served as foreign secretary in 2012-13, besides Pakistan’s ambas­sador to the United States, Europe­an Union, Belgium, Luxembourg and Australia. Meanwhile, talking to re­porters, the minister said the main objective of the foreign policy was to serve the national interests.

He said the caretaker cabinet would strive to serve the coun­try’s interest through national con­sensus and improve cordial ties with countries like China, the Unit­ed States, the United Arab Emirates, Iran and South Asian states, among others. He said Pakistan should fur­ther strengthen its relationship with China being a strategic partner with great economic co­operation. 

Similarly, he said, the success of the Afghan government was also essential that should play its role to eliminate terrorism. Also, Jalil Abbas Jilani said that Pakistan is desirous of hav­ing cordial relations with entire in­ternational community including China, the United States, European Union, Turkiye and Arab countries.

In an exclusive talk with Radio Pa­kistan, he said we want to strength­en our economic relations with these countries as well. Replying to a ques­tion about China-Pakistan Econom­ic Corridor, the Minister said he is proud of being a signatory of the CPEC in May 2013 during the Chinese Prime Minister’s visit to Pakistan.

He said CPEC is a major flagship programme of the economic devel­opment of the country, and we have completed many development proj­ects under the CPEC during the past ten years. Jalil Abbas Jilani said the next phase of CPEC will also be quite significant for Pakistan and acceler­ating pace of work on projects being carried out under the CPEC in IT, Ag­riculture, Railways, and in other sec­tors while utilizing Chinese exper­tise will be our foremost priority.

The caretaker foreign minister said we need to further improve our eco­nomic policy with focus on improv­ing economic ties with all the coun­tries including regional, and other major important countries. He said we will also try our level best to fur­ther cement our economic ties with the United States, China and the Euro­pean Union, which are the major trad­ing partners of Pakistan.