Multilateral solutions pushed to end crises

Diplomacy and dialogue remain the only viable path toward resolving global conflicts, said Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, urging the international community to strengthen multilateral mechanisms and support peaceful development.

"This is a serious time," Dar told China Daily in an exclusive interview at Pakistan's permanent mission to the United Nations in New York. "We've seen many conflicts in the recent past, and many are ongoing. Gaza, Jammu and Kashmir, various crises in the Middle East."

"We need to work harder from all platforms, whether it's the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, BRICS or ASEAN to ensure global peace and security," he said. "So that billions of people can live with peace of mind."

A time for dialogue, not escalation

Dar's remarks come as Pakistan holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council for July, offering the country a platform to advocate for strengthened multilateralism and a rules-based international order.

Calling for "more peaceful resolutions," Dar emphasized that challenges exist not only in new institutions but also within older ones.

"The oldest is the UN. And look what is happening," he said, referring to the Security Council's divisions on conflicts like Gaza and Ukraine. "The system was created 80 years ago, after the World Wars. These institutions were created in San Francisco with the idea of having some international law and order."

"So this multilateral institution is supposed to be responsible for keeping peace and security in the world," he said. "Gradually, particularly in the last couple of decades and more recently in the past few years, we have seen that discipline is getting weaker and weaker."

"We have seen the Palestine issue, Gaza, the way people have been killed, 58,000, and then humanitarian aid blocked. Then we saw a series of problems in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Libya, Iraq. So it looks like the system has gone from weak to weaker."

In this context, Dar said, Pakistan supports reform of the Security Council, including proposals by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. "We are all trying to support UN Security Council reform. We were elected members for two years, starting from Jan 1, 2025 to Dec 31, 2026."

"We believe that it is the responsibility of the UN Security Council to work diligently to ensure that peace and security remain globally available and visible."

Dar praised China's efforts to promote dialogue and peaceful dispute settlement, including the recent establishment of the International Organization for Mediation in Hong Kong.

"This is a great initiative of China," he said. "The whole idea is mediation, resolving disputes through mediation."

He contrasted it with older mechanisms such as the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, "which works on principles of litigation and prosecution". The center is an international arbitration institution established by the World Bank in 1966.

China also had the initiative to create the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in 2015, he said. "I was involved as Pakistan's finance minister, and I am a founding signatory."

Pakistan is one of the 57 founding members of AIIB.