Pakistan & Australia hold 8th Session of Pakistan-Australia Senior Officials Talks

ISLAMABAD, Mar 17 (SABAH): Pakistan and Australia held 8th Session of Pakistan-Australia Senior Officials Talks (SOTs) in Islamabad. Additional Foreign Secretary (Asia-Pacific) Mumtaz Zahra Baloch led the Pakistan side, while the Australian side was led by First Assistant Secretary for North and South Asia, Gary Cowan.

The delegations had a comprehensive exchange of views on bilateral cooperation, including high level exchanges, cooperation in political, economic, development, science & technology, education, defence, security and counter-terrorism, migration and climate change.

The two sides also briefed each other on their respective foreign policy priorities and discussed cooperation in multilateral settings. Additional Secretary briefed the Australian side on the regional situation in South Asia including the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan and the grave and systematic violations of human rights in IIOJK.

Australia-Pakistan Trade Talks were also held in Islamabad on 16 March 2023. Pakistan side was led by Additional Secretary (Trade Diplomacy), Ahsan Ali Mangi of the Ministry of Commerce while the Australian side was led by First Assistant Secretary for North and South Asia, Gary Cowan.

The two sides discussed bilateral trade and investment matters with special focus on cooperation in agriculture and information and communication technology. Enhanced trade access and issues relating to mutual protection of intellectual property rights especially Geographical Indicators for basmati rice were also discussed.