Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar arrived in Saudi Arabia on Saturday to attend an extraordinary meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers, scheduled to be held today in Jeddah.
Upon his arrival in Madinah, Dar was received by Pakistan’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Ahmed Farooq and Consul General Mustafa Rabbani.
According to a statement issued by the Foreign Office (FO), the emergency OIC session will deliberate on the implications of Israel’s recognition of the so-called Somaliland region of the Federal Republic of Somalia.
During the meeting, the deputy prime minister will present Pakistan’s position on the issue of Somaliland and reaffirm the country’s stance on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia, the FO said.
In addition to attending the OIC session, Dar is scheduled to inaugurate the new building of the Pakistani Consulate in Jeddah during his visit.
On the sidelines of the meeting, the foreign minister is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from OIC member states to discuss enhanced cooperation on regional and international issues, the statement added.
The emergency session follows Israel’s announcement last month. Somaliland is a self-declared region that broke away from Somalia in 1991 but has not previously been recognized by any United Nations member state, triggering sharp criticism from Mogadishu and regional bodies.
