Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has called for an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories at a high-level meeting convened by France, the United Kingdom (UK) and Canada.
Dar delivered Pakistan’s statement at the High-Level International Meeting on the Two-State Solution, titled “The Road Ahead: One Year After the New York Declaration and the Comprehensive 20-point Peace Plan”, the Foreign Office (FO) said on Wednesday.
The meeting was convened by France’s President Emmanuel Macron, Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney, and the UK’s PM Andy Burnham. The opening statements were also delivered by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.
Highlighting several initiatives that Pakistan has been a part of on the Palestine issue, Dar said: “Ultimately, all these efforts must converge on one objective: ending the occupation and realising the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination.”
He reiterated Islamabad’s call for an independent, sovereign and contiguous State of Palestine on the pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
“Pakistan will continue to play its constructive role towards this objective,” the deputy premier reaffirmed.
“Diplomacy must respond to the realities on the ground,” he emphasised to the attendees, which included various heads of states and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (via video).
Spain’s President Pedro Sánchez, Qatari PM and FM Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Egypt’s PM Mostafa Madbouly, Jordan’s DPM and FM Ayman Safadi, Norway’s PM Jonas Gahr Støre and Ireland’s Taoiseach (prime minister) Micheál Martin also attended the meeting.
Other participants included European Council President António Costa, Finland’s President Alexander Stubb, the Netherlands ’ PM Rob Jetten, Türkiye’s Hakan Fidan, and High Representative for Gaza of the Board of Peace Nickolay Mladenov.
DPM Dar recalled that Pakistan had endorsed the September 2025 “New York Declaration” that backed the two-state solution, was part of the Group of Eight Arab-Islamic countries that supported the Gaza peace plan, and had voted for a UN Security Council resolution that supported that plan.
The deputy premier emphasised that these processes were “complementary elements of a broader political and diplomatic pathway towards peace, and these must reinforce one another”.
He declared: “Our objective throughout has been clear: to end the killing and suffering of innocent Palestinians, ensure unhindered flow of humanitarian assistance and advance a credible political horizon leading to Palestinian statehood.”
Dar stated that violations of the ceasefire and the “catastrophic human toll in Gaza, alongside the expansion of illegal settlements and settler violence in the West Bank, remain matters of grave concern”.
“This machinery of occupation is eroding the territorial and political foundations on which a viable Palestinian state must be built. It must stop, and stop immediately,” he asserted.
DPM Dar noted that the New York Declaration provided an “important political framework for translating international consensus into concrete action”.
“Its implementation, together with the Gaza Peace Plan and Resolution 2803, must ensure a permanent ceasefire, safe and sustained humanitarian assistance, immediate recovery and reconstruction, and create the conditions for a credible, irreversible and time-bound political process.”
In his remarks at the meeting, the UN chief warned that the two-state solution was at risk of collapse amid illegal Israeli settlement expansion and annexation.
“For Palestinians and all those who care about peace in the Middle East, support for two States must go beyond words,” Guterres told leaders on the occasion.
A day earlier, the Group of Eight, which includes Pakistan, met in New York and issued a joint statement calling for Israel to “immediately fulfil its outstanding commitments”.
Much of Gaza remains in ruins from two years of relentless Israeli bombing that began on Oct 7, 2023.
A US-backed ceasefire deal was struck in October 2025, but the plan has stalled and Israeli forces remain inside Gaza after the country rejected a plan that said Hamas would surrender weapons.
PM Shehbaz meets Bill Gates, world leaders
Separately, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held multiple meetings on the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.
The premier is set to address the summit on Thursday.
The prime minister met with Gates Foundation Chair Bill Gates, who stressed that polio eradication efforts in Pakistan were “vital to protect future generations”.
PM Shehbaz appreciated Gates Foundation’s engagement with Pakistan to support polio eradication, maternal and child health, nutrition, immunisation, digitisation and financial inclusion, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a post on X.
“The prime minister complimented the Gates Foundation for being a trusted partner in Pakistan’s socio-economic development and expressed interest in broadening collaboration in areas including public health, agriculture, digital innovation and AI,” PMO said.
PM Shehbaz and Gates also “agreed to explore opportunities for collaboration in the development of improved seeds, livestock genetics and emerging agricultural technologies”, according to PMO.
The two committed to “further strengthening and expanding partnerships that support sustainable development, technological advancement and improved social sector outcomes for the people of Pakistan”.
PM Shehbaz invited the Microsoft co-founder to visit Pakistan.
Pakistan is one of the last two countries in the world, alongside Afghanistan, where polio remains endemic.
As part of efforts to fight the virus, week-long polio campaigns were launched in Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 13 districts of Punjab on Monday.
During his ongoing New York trip, PM Shehbaz also met with world leaders of Kuwait, Kenya, Austria, Somalia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In a meeting on Wednesday with Bosnian Presidency Chairman Denis Becirovic, the prime minister congratulated him on the formal opening of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s European Union accession talks.
According to PMO, Becirovic praised Pakistan’s mediation efforts for de-escalation in the Gulf, adding that “he also fully supported Pakistan’s position” on the illegality of holding the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance.
In the meeting with Kuwait’s Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah on Tuesday, PM Shehbaz highlighted the potential for “enhanced cooperation in trade, investment, energy and human resource development” between the two countries, PMO said.
Furthermore, PM Shehbaz and Kenyan President William Ruto “reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthening the longstanding and cordial ties between the two countries”.
The premier invited Kenyan investors to explore investment opportunities in Pakistan, while Ruto lauded Pakistan’s mediation efforts in the US-Iran war.
PM Shehbaz also met Austrian Federal Chancellor Christian Stocker and Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Tuesday on the sidelines of the UNGA session.
PM calls for proactive approach to development
PM Shehbaz also addressed a high-level meeting at the UN headquarters on Wednesday, in which he said that a country’s right to development could not be realised where the means to do so were denied, and called for a proactive approach.
The premier was addressing a meeting marking the 40th anniversary of the UN’s Declaration on the Right to Development.
He called attention to the “stark reality” that debt servicing was shrinking fiscal space and consuming “scarce resources that should have been directed towards human development around the globe”. He added that climate disasters were erasing “hard-earned gains” and warned of technological inequalities threatening to perpetuate existing socio-economic divides in a digital age.
“A right cannot be realised where the means to realise it are denied,” PM Shehbaz said. “Therefore, a proactive approach is required.”
He highlighted Pakistan’s development pursuits, saying that they were anchored in a “homegrown economic transformational plan” that was built on enhancing exports, embracing digital technologies, taking effective climate action, enhancing energy infrastructure and ensuring equity and empowerment. He also noted that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) complemented this agenda.
PM Shehbaz also called for debt distress to be addressed and for international financial architecture to be reformed to “provide concessional finance, deliver climate adaptation and loss and damage support”.
He expressed Pakistan’s support for the early adoption of the international covenant on the right to early development.
“The true measure of development is not how far the world advances, but whether humanity advances together in a collective mode,” he said.
FM Dar interacts with counterparts
DPM Dar also engaged with world leaders on the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.
Dar and Azerbaijan’s FM Jeyhun Bayramov held a “productive exchange on further advancing the close and brotherly” relationship between their countries.
In a meeting with the Bulgarian FM Velislava Petrova-Chamova, Dar “reaffirmed Pakistan’s support for diplomatic efforts to resolve regional issues”.
“The two sides reviewed the entire spectrum of Pakistan-Bulgaria bilateral relations and expressed their desire to further strengthen ties through enhanced and regular political and economic engagement,” FO said.
Dar also met his Hungarian counterpart Anita Orban.
Both sides stressed the importance of convening regular bilateral consultative mechanisms to maintain momentum in bilateral engagement.
Greek FM George Gerapetritis, in a separate meeting with Dar, “appreciated Pakistan’s constructive role in promoting regional peace and stability, as well as its growing diplomatic engagement on the international stage”, FO said.
The deputy premier also met Austria’s Minister for European and International Affairs Beate Meinl-Reisinger.
The Austrian diplomat “appreciated Pakistan’s constructive role in promoting regional peace and stability and underscored the importance of sustained diplomatic engagement in addressing regional and global challenges”, according to FO.
On Tuesday, Dar had met with Japan’s FM Toshimitsu Motegi, Kuwait’s FM Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and Libya’s acting FM Al-Taher Al-Baour on the sidelines of the UNGA.
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