Working on bringing stranded Pakistanis home: FM Qureshi

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said the government has established a crisis management cell which was working round the clock on bringing back the stranded Pakistanis home.

“We want to bring back stranded Pakistanis as soon as possible,” Qureshi said while addressing a press conference. “We have directed our embassies to coordinate with our citizens stranded in the countries."

“From April 20 we will increase our capacity from 2000 to 8000,” he said.

Speaking about the ongoing health crisis, the foreign minister said the entire world has been gripped by the COVID-19 pandemic which has infected more than two million and killed more than 136,000 people.

“The global economy and exports have been badly hit by the epidemic. It has not only affected the developing countries, but the developed nations are also feeling the pinch,” Qureshi noted.

The foreign minister added that there was an unprecedented increase in joblessness everywhere.

“Experts believe there have been a three trillion dollars hit to the world economy.”

“The prime minister had said that developing nations would be the hardest hit because of the pandemic and appealed for the debt relief,” he said.

Qureshi continued, “our recommendation for relief came under discussion at the G7 meeting and then later at the G20 meeting yesterday where a decision was taken in this regard.”

Speaking about the debt relief by the International Monetary Fund, the foreign minister said this will give Pakistan a fiscal space. “This is a step forward to support the poor section of the society,” he remarked.

“Relief will benefit the people,” Qureshi said. “This is a global pandemic and we need global cooperation and consensus.”

IMF gives major debt relief to Pakistan

Earlier Qureshi had confirmed that the IMF had decided to give a one-year relief to Islamabad as the country grappled with coronavirus pandemic.

“Developing nations have been hit the hardest with the pandemic,” Qureshi told Geo Pakistan.

The foreign minister’s remarks follow the announcement of the G20 nations on Wednesday to give one-year debt relief to world's poorest nations as they struggle to financially cope with the coronavirus pandemic

“Prime Minister Imran Khan had appealed to IMF for debt relief for developing countries which was accepted by the Fund. IMF has announced it would give one-year relief to 70 developing nations including Pakistan,” Qureshi said.

The foreign minister said the relief by the Washington-based organisation would be for one year and is expected to be given from May 1.