ISLAMABAD, April 5 : Pakistan and the United Kingdom (UK) on Tuesday formally launched “enhanced strategic dialogue” aimed at strengthening ties in security, trade, health and education sectors.Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani and his British counterpart David Cameron, while addressing a press conference after a day-long interaction that also covered the UK-Pakistan National Security Dialogue and a meeting with the heads of parliamentary parties,vowed to enhance bilateral investments and encourage their private sectors to help increase bilateral trade from 1.2 to 2.5 billion pounds by the year 2015.
Prime Minister Cameron termed the Pak-UK ties as “unbreakable” and said the two sides focussed on trade, security and education sectors. He said he had also increased Pakistan’s market access to Europe.On the security sector, Cameron said that the two sides agreed on police services and intelligence cooperation, besides discussing the importance of Pakistan-Afghanistan relationship. He said that both the countries shared the need of having a peaceful, stable and democratic Afghanistan.
“Pakistan suffered greatly in tackling terrorism and extremism,” he said,adding that there was a huge fight being waged by the [Pakistan] government against terrorists and the United Kingdom had a share in combating terrorism.
On education, Cameron said that the United Kingdom had launched a new package to help Pakistan in imparting education to four million children, training to 90,000 teachers and provision of six million text books.Responding to a question on spending a huge amount on Pakistan’s education, Cameron said his coalition government had increased the overseas budget by 7.7 per cent of the gross national income as it was in the interest of the United Kingdom to support the poorest in the poor countries in education, maternal health and in fighting poverty.
“Putting money in health, education is an investment to make Pakistan a trading success and a skill success.”
Prime Minister Gilani thanked the United Kingdom for his priority to education, despite the restraints.
Terming illiteracy a root-cause of terrorism, Gilani said that the focus was on education in the FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) and remote areas. He said over 30,000 Pakistani students were in Britain for education and called for extending more scholarships.
Asked about the visa issues, the British Prime Minister said that the processing had been shifted out of Pakistan “to make it more efficient.”He said,” under changed rules, the students can now work for two years after completing their education so as to stop the abuse of immigration laws”.
When asked about return of former President Pervez Musharraf to Pakistan, David Cameron said that the two countries did not have any extradition treaty and also a “proper application” was needed to be made to proceed in that regard.Regarding Pakistan’s role on extremism and terrorism, Prime Minister Gilani said Pakistan had rendered unprecedented sacrifices and lost more soldiers and civilians than the combined losses of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization).
“If any credible information and actionable intelligence provided, we are ready to help,” he said when asked whether there was any risk of leaking information to the terrorists.
In his opening remarks Gilani said the talks were a significant step towards injecting further substance into Pak-UK relations through regular interaction at the political level, strengthening cooperation in trade, investment, education and health sectors. He said the dialogue was important in enhancing people-to-people contacts and creating better understanding of each other’s position on important regional and global issues.“We are committed to further strengthening this relationship in all areas of life. When it comes to Pakistan-UK relations, sky is the limit,” he said.He said during his talks, he informed Prime Minister Cameron that Pakistan offered tremendous trade and investment opportunities.He said that the United Kingdom with over 100 companies already doing successful businesses in Pakistan, was best placed to take advantage of these opportunities.He said the two sides also discussed in detail the regional situation and he briefed Prime Minister Cameron about his recent meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Mohali, and the resumption of dialogue process.
Earlier in a statement at the beginning of the press conference, Gilani said the first visit of Prime Minister Cameron to Pakistan signified the immense importance of the abiding Pakistan-UK relationship.He said over one million British-Pakistanis provided a living bridge between the two countries and termed them an asset both for Britain and Pakistan.He thanked Cameron for UK’s assistance in the wake of floods last year and said that Pakistan greatly valued their help in the reconstruction and rehabilitation phase. He said Pakistan was also very much appreciative of the UK’s partnership, especially in the sectors of education and health.
Gilani said,”achieving peace and stability in Afghanistan is our strategic objective. In this regard, Pakistan will continue supporting Afghan-led and Afghan-owned efforts”.
“Pakistan suffered greatly in tackling terrorism and extremism,” he said,adding that there was a huge fight being waged by the [Pakistan] government against terrorists and the United Kingdom had a share in combating terrorism.
On education, Cameron said that the United Kingdom had launched a new package to help Pakistan in imparting education to four million children, training to 90,000 teachers and provision of six million text books.Responding to a question on spending a huge amount on Pakistan’s education, Cameron said his coalition government had increased the overseas budget by 7.7 per cent of the gross national income as it was in the interest of the United Kingdom to support the poorest in the poor countries in education, maternal health and in fighting poverty.
“Putting money in health, education is an investment to make Pakistan a trading success and a skill success.”
Prime Minister Gilani thanked the United Kingdom for his priority to education, despite the restraints.
Terming illiteracy a root-cause of terrorism, Gilani said that the focus was on education in the FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) and remote areas. He said over 30,000 Pakistani students were in Britain for education and called for extending more scholarships.
Asked about the visa issues, the British Prime Minister said that the processing had been shifted out of Pakistan “to make it more efficient.”He said,” under changed rules, the students can now work for two years after completing their education so as to stop the abuse of immigration laws”.
When asked about return of former President Pervez Musharraf to Pakistan, David Cameron said that the two countries did not have any extradition treaty and also a “proper application” was needed to be made to proceed in that regard.Regarding Pakistan’s role on extremism and terrorism, Prime Minister Gilani said Pakistan had rendered unprecedented sacrifices and lost more soldiers and civilians than the combined losses of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization).
“If any credible information and actionable intelligence provided, we are ready to help,” he said when asked whether there was any risk of leaking information to the terrorists.
In his opening remarks Gilani said the talks were a significant step towards injecting further substance into Pak-UK relations through regular interaction at the political level, strengthening cooperation in trade, investment, education and health sectors. He said the dialogue was important in enhancing people-to-people contacts and creating better understanding of each other’s position on important regional and global issues.“We are committed to further strengthening this relationship in all areas of life. When it comes to Pakistan-UK relations, sky is the limit,” he said.He said during his talks, he informed Prime Minister Cameron that Pakistan offered tremendous trade and investment opportunities.He said that the United Kingdom with over 100 companies already doing successful businesses in Pakistan, was best placed to take advantage of these opportunities.He said the two sides also discussed in detail the regional situation and he briefed Prime Minister Cameron about his recent meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Mohali, and the resumption of dialogue process.
Earlier in a statement at the beginning of the press conference, Gilani said the first visit of Prime Minister Cameron to Pakistan signified the immense importance of the abiding Pakistan-UK relationship.He said over one million British-Pakistanis provided a living bridge between the two countries and termed them an asset both for Britain and Pakistan.He thanked Cameron for UK’s assistance in the wake of floods last year and said that Pakistan greatly valued their help in the reconstruction and rehabilitation phase. He said Pakistan was also very much appreciative of the UK’s partnership, especially in the sectors of education and health.
Gilani said,”achieving peace and stability in Afghanistan is our strategic objective. In this regard, Pakistan will continue supporting Afghan-led and Afghan-owned efforts”.
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