Cultural event “Pakistan’s National Day: celebrating the 70th year of independence”

Ambassador Janjua,
Ambassador Shah,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen:

It is my great pleasure to welcome you to tonight’s concert to mark Pakistan’s National Day. This year is a special occasion, as Pakistan is celebrating 70 years of its independence gained in 1947. I congratulate Pakistan and its people, and wish you a future in peace, security and prosperity.

I thank the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan for hosting tonight’s event and for bringing Qawaliis, a traditional form of Pakistani Sufi devotional music, to the Palais des Nations. In this tradition, that dates back 700 years, a lead singer, Qawal, is accompanied by a chorus. Qawaliis music is just a small sample of the country’s incredibly rich and diverse cultural traditions.

I am grateful for Pakistan’s contribution to the cultural programme at the Palais des Nations. I would also like to acknowledge its support to the work of the United Nations in other areas. Pakistan is one of the largest troop contributing countries for the United Nation’s peacekeeping operations, providing a total of 7,156 Police, UN military experts on mission and troops.

Here in International Geneva, we are grateful to Pakistan for our excellent collaboration and its support to some of our key agendas. I would like to thank Ambassador Janjua particularly, for her engagement in this city and I wish her best of luck as she is about to leave to take on a new role as the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan.

I salute both, Ambassador Janjua, and Ambassador Syed Tauqir Shah, Permanent Representative of the Mission of Pakistan to the World Trade Organization, for their support to the Geneva Gender Champions Initiative. Last year, during its Presidency of the Conference on Disarmament, Pakistan lead a plenary on the role of women in disarmament, discussing greater participation of women in arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation decision-making processes.

We thank you for your cooperation and for being an active partner in International Geneva.

Now let’s enjoy tonight’s concert. I wish you a nice evening.
Thank you very much.