Pakistan hesitant to participate in Global Peace Summit. It is China's largest strategic partner
Pakistan, which is a strategic partner of China, may miss the Peace Summit in Switzerland as the country is still hesitating, reported Al Jazeera.
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Pakistan is one of the countries of the Global South invited to the summit, which will be held on June 15-16.
Pakistan, like Brazil and China, claims to have a neutral position on the Russo-Ukrainian war. As recently as last month, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan confirmed that it had received an invitation from Ukraine to the Global Peace Summit, but said that Islamabad had not yet decided.
In a comment to Al Jazeera, a foreign ministry spokesman said: "[This issue is] still under discussion."
Tughral Yamin, a former military official and senior research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies Islamabad (IPSI), believes it is important for Pakistan to participate in the summit.
"Pakistan must attend the summit. It has stakes in the war. We have strong defence relations with Ukraine, whereas we are trying to build strong ties with Russia as well which can provide us oil, so attending this makes complete sense," he told Al-Jazeera.
Ukraine and Pakistan cooperate in the field of education and cultural exchange, in the field of aerospace engineering, aerospace technology, medical and biological sciences. It is known that Pakistan even purchased several expensive Ukrainian weapons systems, including tanks.
On April 24, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia wants to disrupt the Global Peace Summit and has a plan to do it.
As of June 10, about 90 countries and organizations, half of which are European, have confirmed their participation in the Global Peace Summit.
On June 12, RFE/RL learned out that 15 of these 90 countries suddenly refused to participate in the summit. LIGA.net sent information requests to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the President's Office.
Read also: Argentine President changes plans to attend Ukraine Peace Summit – La Nacion
