{"id":56632,"date":"2025-12-19T19:04:53","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T19:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/?p=56632"},"modified":"2025-12-19T19:04:53","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T19:04:53","slug":"president-felicitates-ambassador-sohail-mahmood-on-appointment-as-d-8-secretary-general","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/president-felicitates-ambassador-sohail-mahmood-on-appointment-as-d-8-secretary-general\/","title":{"rendered":"President Felicitates Ambassador Sohail Mahmood on Appointment as D-8 Secretary General"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_56636\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-56636\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-56636\" src=\"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/69608-e1766170964654.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"314\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-56636\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Islamabad, 19 December 2025: President Asif Ali Zardari meeting Ambassador Sohail Mahmood, Secretary General-Designate of the Developing Eight Organization (D-8), at Aiwan-e-Sadr.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Islamabad December 19, 2025 &#8211; President Asif Ali Zardari met Ambassador Sohail Mahmood, former Foreign Secretary of Pakistan and Secretary General-Designate of the Developing Eight Organization (D-8), who called on him at Aiwan-e-Sadr.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The President congratulated Ambassador Sohail Mahmood on his appointment as Secretary General of D-8 and said it is a matter of pride for Pakistan that a seasoned Pakistani diplomat would be leading the organisation. He expressed confidence that Ambassador Mahmood\u2019s experience and insight would help strengthen D-8 and enhance its relevance in the coming years.<\/p>\n<p>Ambassador Sohail Mahmood briefed the President on his new role and shared his vision for advancing cooperation among D-8 member states. He highlighted the organisation\u2019s potential to promote economic growth and collective development across its diverse membership.<\/p>\n<p>The President underscored Pakistan\u2019s continued commitment to D-8 as a founding member and noted the importance of effective implementation of the D-8 Decennial Roadmap 2020\u20132030. He emphasised the need to translate agreed frameworks into tangible outcomes, particularly in priority areas including trade, agriculture, energy, industry, transportation and tourism.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"PzV9mlDkVP\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/institute-of-strategic-studies-islamabad-hosts-event-commemorating-kenyas-jamhuri-day-in-collaboration-with-pakistan-africa-institute-for-development-and-research-paidar\/\">Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad hosts event commemorating Kenya\u2019s \u2018Jamhuri Day\u2019 in Collaboration with Pakistan Africa Institute for Development and Research (PAIDAR)<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad hosts event commemorating Kenya\u2019s \u2018Jamhuri Day\u2019 in Collaboration with Pakistan Africa Institute for Development and Research (PAIDAR)&#8221; &#8212; Pakistan In the World\" src=\"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/institute-of-strategic-studies-islamabad-hosts-event-commemorating-kenyas-jamhuri-day-in-collaboration-with-pakistan-africa-institute-for-development-and-research-paidar\/embed\/#?secret=IV792b9AXB#?secret=PzV9mlDkVP\" data-secret=\"PzV9mlDkVP\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Referring to the D-8 Preferential Trade Agreement, the President said that low levels of intra-D-8 trade highlighted the urgency of full operationalisation of the agreement. He welcomed the signing of the Protocol on the D-8 PTA Dispute Settlement Mechanism as a positive step towards addressing trade barriers and strengthening economic collaboration among member states.<\/p>\n<p>The President also stressed the importance of enhancing people-to-people contacts within D-8 to deepen cultural and historical ties. He noted that institutional reforms are essential for the organisation\u2019s long-term effectiveness and expressed hope that Ambassador Sohail Mahmood would play a constructive role in aligning D-8 with contemporary global standards while ensuring fair representation of member states.<\/p>\n<p>President Zardari wished Ambassador Sohail Mahmood success in his new assignment and expressed confidence that he would uphold the objectives of D-8 while safeguarding Pakistan\u2019s national interests.<\/p>\n<p>Parliamentary Leader of PPP in the Senate, Senator Sherry Rehman also attended the meeting.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"cO2M5ZZlOC\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/pakistan-in-the-world-dec-2025\/\">Pakistan in the World &#8211; Dec 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;Pakistan in the World &#8211; Dec 2025&#8221; &#8212; Pakistan In the World\" src=\"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/pakistan-in-the-world-dec-2025\/embed\/#?secret=52MFA4eTVJ#?secret=cO2M5ZZlOC\" data-secret=\"cO2M5ZZlOC\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Islamabad December 19, 2025 &#8211; President Asif Ali Zardari met Ambassador Sohail Mahmood, former Foreign Secretary of Pakistan and Secretary General-Designate of the Developing Eight Organization (D-8), who called on him at Aiwan-e-Sadr. The President congratulated Ambassador Sohail Mahmood on his appointment as Secretary General of D-8 and said it is a matter of pride [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[1813,126,5352,141,251,48,58,4963],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56632"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56632"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56637,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56632\/revisions\/56637"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}