ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Friday launched a new app ‘FM Direct’ for promoting exchange of ideas within the foreign ministry.

“The purpose of the ‘FM Direct’ app is to involve all officers of the ministry of foreign affairs both at the headquarters and missions abroad in an interactive dialogue for exchange of ideas,” Mr Qureshi said at the launching ceremony of the app that was attended online among others by 60 heads of Pakistani diplomatic missions abroad.

The ‘FM Direct’ app is a new and evolved way of thinking, encapsulating the spirit of meritocracy and transparency within the Foreign Office through digital communication, a Foreign Office statement said.

The web-based application provides an opportunity to each officer, irrespective of grade and location, to reach out to the foreign minister directly and share his/her views independently and without any restriction, it added.

About the timing of the app’s launch, the FO said it had been launched in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic, as the foreign minister “believed in the critical importance of being as connected as possible to ensure multi-stakeholder coordination and dialogue”.

Initiative billed as a new way of encapsulating the spirit of meritocracy through digital communication

The application, developed by Nadra, would in future replace currently used means of communications within the foreign ministry.

“The App will be regularly updated and improved in order to eventually replace other commercially available communication means in the Foreign office,” the FO said.

Pakistani diplomats, while participating in the launch, shared their views with the foreign minister.

The launch of the ‘FM Direct’ was part of Mr Qureshi’s ‘Vision FO’, which is his public diplomacy drive, to “craft an environment of thought leadership at the ministry; to promote a macro vision, digital landscape and an evolved/transparent way of communications”.

The ‘Vision FO’ was launched in last December under the digitisation and enhanced e-governance project.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2020