Islamabad: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has welcomed the recently introduced relaxation in the United States (US) travel advisory for Pakistan, a news source reported. Indicating that the US has acknowledged Pakistan’s improved security situation, the ministry spokesperson Aisha Farooqui took to twitter and stated that it was a step in the right direction.
According to reports, the updated US travel advisory for Pakistan
states that the country’s security environment has improved since 2014. However,
the advisory cautions US travellers not to visit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and
Balochistan. It advises the same pertaining to the Line of Control (LoC). On
the other hand, the advisory has assigned a ‘Level 3’ to the rest of the
country.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Office (FO) has issued a statement to this effect. It stated that the country had made resolute efforts to improve its security situation. The statement referred to the United Nations (UN)’s re-designation of family status to Islamabad for its personnel. It also mentioned the United Kingdom (UK)’s recent change in its travel advisory for Pakistan, along with the decisions made by Norway and Portugal pertaining to their travel advisories to the country.
The FO statement said that these changes reflected the confidence of the European governments in Pakistan’s security environment. The FO also expressed its hope that the improved security would lead to opportunities of better economic activity and improved foreign direct investment (FDI) levels in Pakistan.
The FO opined that given Pakistan’s liberal visa regime and
conducive environment for tourism, the government was hopeful that more
tourists from around the globe would travel to Pakistan. It added that the
country’s people were ready to welcome these tourists.
