Norwegian foreign minister arrives in Islamabad on official visit

Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide paid an official visit to Islamabad on Thursday, marking the first such trip in over a decade. He was greeted at the airport by Additional Foreign Secretary (Europe) Ambassador Ayesha Ali, according to the Foreign Office. In a statement released on Wednesday, the FO disclosed that Eide was in the country from August 13-14 at the invitation of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar.

During his visit, Eide and Dar are set to engage in delegation-level discussions encompassing the entirety of Pakistan-Norway relations. The two nations are expected to deliberate on avenues for enhancing bilateral cooperation, with a particular focus on trade and investment, climate change, renewable energy, education, and people-to-people interactions. Furthermore, they will exchange perspectives on significant regional and global developments.

The visit aims to capitalize on the high-level engagement between Pakistan and Norway, which includes a phone conversation between Dar and Eide in March and April, as well as the visit of Norway's State Secretary Andreas Motzfeldt Kravik to Islamabad in May. The FO emphasized that the visit presents an opportunity to further strengthen the longstanding and cordial relationship between Pakistan and Norway, as well as to explore new areas of mutually beneficial cooperation.