Dar arrives in Istanbul, will undertake official engagements: FO

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Sunday concluded an official visit to the United Kingdom and reached Turkiye’s Istanbul, where he will “undertake official engagements,” the Foreign Office (FO) said.

He was received by Turkish Deputy Chief of Staff for Administration Brig. General Senol Varol, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Turkiye Dr Yousaf Junaid, Ambassador Cihad Erginay of the Turkish foreign ministry, and other senior officials of the Turkish government, the FO said.

In an earlier statement, FO said Dar “concluded a successful official visit to the UK”, where he met several officials including UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, Minister of State for Pakistan Stephen Doughty, National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell, International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Secretary General Arsenio Dominguez and Commonwealth Secretary General Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey.

During the visit, Dar also interacted with British parliamentarians of Pakistani origin and the Pakistani diaspora in the UK.

While the FO did not share specific details of Dar’s engagements in Turkiye, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had invited him earlier this month to the Regional-4 meeting, which includes Saudi Arabia and Egypt, in addition to Turkiye and Pakistan.

Dar had accepted the invitation and confirmed his participation in the meeting, which was scheduled to take place in August, according to the FO.

The R-4 group has been focused on regional security and emerged in March amid efforts for mediation between the US and Iran.

The meeting in Istanbul is planned with the negotiations stalled, as the nearly six-month-old war grinds on with little sign of resolution.

The last R-4 meeting was held in June in Cairo, with the countries then welcoming the signing of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding between the US and Iran.

The first meeting was held in Riyadh on the sidelines of a consultative ministerial meeting, while the second meeting was held in Islamabad. Both meetings were held in March.