ISLAMABAD: PML-N leader and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi Tuesday slammed President Arif Alvi for not receiving credentials of new US ambassador Donald Armin Blome.
“It is a very unfortunate state of affairs”, Abbasi said to a question by Independent Pakistan. “President Alvi is a very busy man who is unable to spare time to accept the credentials of an ambassador.”
He added: “The President has forgotten that he represents the State and not a political party.”
A new US Ambassador to Pakistan has arrived in Islamabad to begin his assignment, the official twitter handle of US Embassy in Islamabad said May 23.
The Tweet said, “Ambassador Donald Blome began his assignment at the United States Embassy in Islamabad today. Welcome to Pakistan, Ambassador Blome!”
Ambassador Donald Armin Blome, who arrived here on May 23, has submitted his documents regarding his posting to the Foreign Office and taken up his assignment in Islamabad. A career ambassador and seasoned diplomat, he is the first US full-fledged ambassador designated to Pakistan in four years.
To a question regarding what many see as escalating demands of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the former PM said the Fund had made no additional demands but merely insisted we fulfill the covenants we had made (under the previous government).
“IMF has only talked about the Agreements we have been signing over the last 3 years, especially the one [signed] in Feb 2022,” he told Independent Pakistan.
The Fund has reportedly asked Pakistan to take “additional measures” to strengthen the budget and to bring it in line with key objectives of the fund programme. The demand came when reporters asked IMF’s Resident Chief in Pakistan Esther Perez Ruiz for her comments on the budget proposals for 2022-23.
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