26 countries to attend top Asian dialogue in Pakistan
Pakistan Times Federal Bureau Report

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad will host a large number of foreign dignitaries in the first week of next month when Chinese prime minister and Thai deputy prime minister along with foreign ministers of 17 countries will be here to participate in the Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), a forum of 26 countries from East to West Asia.

All the seven large and medium-sized hotels of Islamabad and Rawalpindi have been vacated for the guests and Islamabad will be a closed city for any other casual visitor during the days of the ACD.

The foremost importance has been given to security and Federal Secretary for the Interior Syed Kemal Shah has been entrusted with the task of making foolproof security arrangements during the conference span.

The inaugural session of the conference will take place in the Convention Centre.

Chinese PM Wen Jiabao

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao will be reaching here in his special plane with an entourage of 300 eminent persons representing various walks of life. Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing will arrive in his separate special plane while about eight Chinese delegations are already in Islamabad.

The foreign ministers of Bangladesh, Bahrain, Kuwait, Cambodia, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Oman, the Philippines, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates have confirmed their participation in the first ever ACD ministerial conference to be held in Pakistan.

Special Security Cards

The government has decided to issue special security cards to the government employees who will be assigned duties during the conference that will commence on 5th of the next month. NADRA has been given the duty of preparation of photo ID cards for the occasion.

Sources indicated that services of civil armed forces (CAF) are being acquired for the conference to maintain law and order and they will be posted at important points at least two days ahead of the conference schedule.

The Programme

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will inaugurate the conference while the Chinese premier will deliver keynote address. At the conclusion of the conference, Chinese prime minister will proceed on an official bilateral visit, sources added.

The delegates will call on President General Pervez Musharraf, who will host a dinner in honour of the visiting dignitaries on April 6.

Natwar to Miss

Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh will not attend ACD ministerial meeting "because of other engagements", but this should not be seen as a snub, Pakistan and India said on Wednesday.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani said India would send its minister of state for science and technology, Kapil Sibal. "Natwar Singh is not coming because we were told that he has some other engagements."

Jilani said: "We were told quite some time ago by the Indian side that he may not be able to come and that was conveyed even before this thing was made public," Jilani said, referring to the US announcement on F-16s.

"It has absolutely nothing to do with that," he said.●