ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan has reached in Canada on a three-day visit to represent Pakistan at the United Nations Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial Meeting beginning in Vancouver on Tuesday.

In a statement, he said Pakistan will continue supporting UN efforts to bring long-term stability to war-affected regions of the world.

He said Pakistan is pioneer in creating a program in Peace and Conflict Studies at National University of Science and Technology (NUST).

The Defence Minister will speak on Pakistan's "Smart Pledges" to UN Peacekeeping operations, and will separately enunciate Pakistan's views and suggestions on "Early Warning and Deployment", one of the principal themes of the meeting.

Khurram Dastgir Khan will also hold bilateral meetings with Pakistan's international partners on the side-lines of the meeting.

Pakistan is one of the leading troop contributing countries to UN Peacekeeping missions, with over 6000 uniformed personnel deployed currently in 10 different missions of the United Nations. Pakistan has sent over 180,000 troops to 45 UN missions in 28 different countries since 1960.—PPI