The federal government of Pakistan has its own in different countries of the world Embassies I honored 48 prominent business personalities of the country Ambassadors appointed as
According to the information received from the Foreign Office in Islamabad, all these personalities belong to the commercial sector.
In March this year, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a speech at a businessmen’s event that ‘big taxpayers and exporters will be given the status of honorary ambassadors abroad.’
According to information from the Foreign Office: ‘All these individuals will be investment ambassadors and will initially be issued blue passports for a period of two years.’
Among the 48 ambassadors who were appointed, besides Mustafa bin Talha, son of Senator Talha Mahmood and chief executive of ACM Group, Omar Mansha, daughter of Muslim Commercial Bank and Nishat Group head Mian Mansha, Huma Arshad, Hira Butt, Saima Sultana, Ali Zafar Naqvi, Syed Asad Hussain Zaidi, Asif Peer and others are included.
According to information, the honorary ambassadors were issued blue passports soon following the notification of their appointment on June 28, with the help of which the honorary ambassadors can travel easily to promote investment in Pakistan from abroad.
Honorary ambassadors will receive the same protocol as ambassadors posted in Pakistani embassies abroad.
On the orders of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, instructions have been issued to various Pakistani embassies to provide full support in this regard.
In this regard, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar recently told the first meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs that ‘now there is only one way and that is the way to increase exports.
‘Our focus is on direct investment and exports. Therefore, economic diplomacy is now among the priorities of the Foreign Office.
Senior diplomatic analyst and journalist Shaukat Paracha said in a conversation with Independent Urdu that ‘for the purpose of investment, such a large number of honorary ambassadors have been appointed for the first time. Earlier, two or three honorary ambassadors were appointed.
He said that such appointments are made in Puri Dina, while the trend of this practice was less in Pakistan.
“But now, to promote economic diplomacy, honorary ambassadors have been appointed, whose salary will not be paid, but the facilities will be equal to the ambassadors of the Foreign Office.”
According to former Ambassador Abdul Basit: ‘Something happens for the first time in history. This number of honorary ambassadors has never been appointed before. Two or three honorary ambassadors have been appointed in the past.’
He added that it is customary for diplomacy around the world to appoint honorary ambassadors in a particular field. He is also an honorary ambassador to America.
‘But everyone’s fields are different. Some are for Ukraine, some are for South Asia, but Pakistan has 48 investment ambassadors out of 48.
According to him, the fields of the said ambassadors should have been different, one should have been in agriculture investment and the other in some other industry.
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The former Pakistani ambassador raised the question that what was the need to give official passports to honorary ambassadors?
He said that ‘big businessmen get visas of every country even on their green passports. It is not difficult for them to get visas.
But the little value of the official passport should not be diminished. Protocols will now be given to these honorary ambassadors in every mission of Pakistan abroad.’
‘I think five honorary ambassadors would do. They would do it according to the region, that is, one for Europe, one for South Asia, one for Africa and one for America. Could have done it this way, but 48 ambassadors are too many.’
The appointment of an honorary ambassador for investment is not the first time, but also during the PDM regime, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif appointed London-based Pakistani businessman Zeeshan Shah as an honorary ambassador.
Similarly, Ali Jahangir Siddiqui was appointed as the Honorary Ambassador of Foreign Investment (Ambassador at Large) in 2019 during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf regime due to business reasons.
Three honorary ambassadors were appointed during the Pakistan People’s Party regime, including ophthalmologist Nasir Ali Khan, Khalid Ahmed and Zia Isfahani.
According to the information presented to the committee at that time, all visits abroad by honorary ambassadors were made at government expense.
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2024-07-14 21:36:43
