Pakistan watch
POLITICAL ISSUES
BAHRAIN
1. Pakistan envoy meets Bahrain’s foreign minister
Islamabad, Monday, 1 May 2017   
Pakistan’s envoy to Bahrain Javed Malik called on Foreign Minister Ahmed Al Khalifa to discuss bilateral ties.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan, Islamabad  

EGYPT
2. Pakistan condemns attacks on Churches
Islamabad, Sunday, 28 May 2017   
The terrorist attack on a bus carrying Coptic Churches to a monastery in the Minya province in South Egypt on 28 May was strongly condemned by the Foreign Office.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan, Islamabad

IRAN
3. Iranian delegation discuss border issues visit Pakistan
Islamabad, Wednesday, 3 May 2017   
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif along with his delegation called on Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, NSA Nasser Khan Janjua and Army Chief Qamar Bajwa to discuss the recent border attack and bilateral border coordination.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan, Islamabad; See also: Daily Pakistan, Lahore 

4. Iran Cultural Counsellor visits Pakistan      
Islamabad, Wednesday, 10 May 2017   
Iranian Cultural Counsellor Shahabuddin Darai his meeting with Prime Minister’s Adviser on National History and Literary Heritage (NHLH) Irfan Siddiqui in Islamabad emphasized on the need to strengthen cultural and literary ties, translation of Urdu and Persian literature and exchange of literary delegation between the two neighbours.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan, Islamabad; See also: Pakistan Observer, Islamabad 

OMAN
5. Oman’s foreign minister visits Pakistan
Islamabad, Sunday, 7 May 2017   
Oman’s Foreign Affairs Minister Alawi Bin Abdullah paid a two-day visit to Pakistan and discussed bilateral issues with Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan, Islamabad; See also: Daily Times, Lahore    

SAUDI ARABIA
6. PM attends US-Arab-Islamic Summit in Saudi Arabia
Islamabad, Saturday, 20 May 2017   
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif represented Pakistan at the first trilateral US-Arab-Islamic summit at Riyadh from 21to 23 May and attended the inauguration ceremony of the World Centre against Extremism, a counter-radicalization initiative by Saudi Arabia.
Source: The Express Tribune, Karachi; See also: The News International, Karachi

TURKEY
7. Islamabad welcomes Turkey’s mediation offer in Kashmir 
Islamabad, Monday, 1 May 2017   
Turkish President’s proposal to “strengthen the dialogue process between India and Pakistan for resolving the Kashmir issue” and statement stressing an “end to bloodshed in Indian occupied Kashmir “ahead of his arrival in New Delhi was welcomed by Islamabad.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan, Islamabad    

8. Pakistan and Turkey discuss regional issues
Islamabad, Thursday, 4 May 2017   
Turkish Ambassador to Pakistan Babur Girgin and NSA Nasser Khan Janjua discussed Turkish President’s visit to New Delhi, progress of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and strategic significance of Pakistan, Iran and Turkey in the region.
Source: The Nation, Lahore

9. First session of Pakistan-Turkey Regional Consultations held in Islamabad
Islamabad, Thursday, 18 May 2017   
Foreign Ministries of Pakistan and Turkey participated in the first session of Regional Consultations held in Islamabad on 18 May and discussed the regional developments.
Source: The Nation, Lahore

DEFENCE ISSUES  
SAUDI ARABIA
10. Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee visits Riyadh
Islamabad, Wednesday, 3 May 2017   
Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC) Zubair Mahmood was conferred with Hayat King Abdul Aziz Medal of Excellence, the highest military award of Kingdom during his visit to Saudi Arabia.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan, Islamabad 

11. Pakistan Naval ship visits Saudi Arabia
Islamabad, Monday, 8 May 2017   
Pakistan Navy Ship Tippu Sultan (DDG-185) with Commanding Officer Rizwan Javed and Naval and Air Attaché Arshad Mukhtarwith arrived at Port Jeddah, on a four-day goodwill visit.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan, Islamabad 

TURKEY
12. Pakistan delegation visits Turkey
Islamabad, Wednesday, 3 May 2017   
A Standing Committee on Defence Production led by Chairman Sohail Mansoor stressed the need for strong collaboration between Pakistan and Turkey in various sectors of defence, including joint production and technology transfer.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan, Islamabad

13. Defence Production minister visits Istanbul
Islamabad, Monday, 8 May 2017   
Minister for Defence Production Rana Tanveer Hussain, during his five-day visit to Istanbul to attend 13th International Defence Industry Fair (IDEF-17), signed three important documents concerning defence and strategic collaboration.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan, Islamabad

14. President of Turkish Aeronautical Industry visits Islamabad
Islamabad, Tuesday, 30 May 2017   
President of Turkish Aeronautical Industry (TAI) Temel Ketil called on Rana Tanveer Hussain, Minister for Defence Production in Islamabad to discuss the existing collaborations and future cooperation.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan, Islamabad

UAE
15. Chairman Staff Committee visits UAE
Islamabad, Friday, 5 May 2017   
Chairman of Pakistan’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCS) Zubair Hayat was invited as the chief guest at the 41st anniversary of the UAE armed forces.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan, Islamabad

ECONOMIC ISSUES    
SAUDI ARABIA
16. Riyadh, Islamabad discuss trade
Islamabad, Sunday, 21 May 2017   
A Pakistani business delegation of Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) paid an eight-day visit to Saudi Arabia from 11 to 19 May for detailed meetings to increase and diversify bilateral trade.
Source: Radio Pakistan, Government of Pakistan, Islamabad

MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES
OMAN
17. New flights to connect Multan, Karachi with Saudi Arabia and UAE
Islamabad, Wednesday, 17 May 2017   
CEO of SalamAir Francois Bouteiller informed that Oman’s budget airline SalamAir would start three weekly flights connecting Pakistan’s cities of Multan and Karachi with Jeddah, Medina, Salalah and Dubai.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan, Islamabad    

TURKEY
18. Turkey, Pakistan discuss education diplomacy
Islamabad, Thursday, 12 May 2017   
A delegation of Turkish educationists visited Pakistan to hold a meeting with Minister of State for Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) Fazal Chaudhry to discuss scope of bilateral cooperation in teacher training and educational interventions.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan, Islamabad 

19. Turkey sends monetary aid for FTA 
Islamabad, Friday, 30 April 2017   
Turkey announced US$ 10 million as aid for rehabilitation of disaster/flood affected and the temporarily displaced people in the FATA province of Pakistan.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan, Islamabad  

COMPILED BY DIVYA MALHOTRA

Divya Malhotra is a Doctoral candidate at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.  Email

As part of its editorial policy, the MEI@ND standardizes spelling and date formats to make the text uniformly accessible and stylistically consistent. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views/positions of the MEI@ND. Editor, MEI@ND: P R Kumaraswamy