Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani will travel to Islamabad on August 19-20 at the invitation of Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar. The two-day visit is expected to begin on Wednesday evening.
Al-Shibani’s visit will be the highest-level visit by a Syrian official to Pakistan since the Bashar al-Assad administration was overthrown in 2024. It will also be the first visit to Pakistan by a Syrian foreign minister in 19 years.
Economic and defense cooperation to be discussed
As part of the program, Al-Shibani is expected to meet with Ishaq Dar, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other ministers. The sides are expected to discuss ways to revive and expand cooperation in various areas, particularly the economy and defense.
Syria was last represented in Pakistan by Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem in May 2007. A Pakistani delegation also met with Al-Shibani in Damascus in June last year.
Contacts continue between Damascus and Islamabad
In a phone call with Syrian President al-Sharaa in March, Pakistan’s prime minister discussed the ongoing tensions in the Middle East. Al-Shibani was appointed foreign minister under President al-Sharaa after the Assad administration fell in December 2024.
Before the visit, Islamabad strongly condemned an attack attributed to Israeli forces on Abu al-Duhur Air Base in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province.
Pakistan and Syria formally established diplomatic relations in December 1949, two years after Pakistan was founded. Ties between the two countries were strengthened through military cooperation and educational exchanges.
Pakistan’s Embassy in Damascus remained open after the Assad administration was overthrown, while bilateral cooperation remained limited over the past two years. Trade between Pakistan and Syria stands at approximately $8.49 million.
