ISLAMABAD – Terming Britain’s ties with Pakistan “unbreakable”, British Prime Minister David Cameron told a joint press conference with Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Tuesday that the two countries had resolved to enhance bilateral trade from ₤1.2 billion to ₤2.5 billion by the year 2015 as both countries launched a strategic dialogue to expand cooperation in defence, economy and education.
The British premier also called for economic reforms in Pakistan, saying that there was a need to increase the country’s tax base and the country’s rich should pay more tax. He also urged Pakistan and India to forge friendly ties and build on the recent tentative steps towards better relations.
The press conference took place following the start of joint Pak-UK deliberations through a strategic dialogue covering trade, security and education. He said the two sides had focussed on three contentious issues: trade, security and education, adding that his country had committed to increasing Pakistan’s access to European markets.
The strategic talks also included the Pak-UK National Security Dialogue and a meeting with the heads of parliamentary parties as Cameron said that both sides had agreed on cooperation in providing training to police and intelligence sharing. Another important issue that was taken up was the future strategy vis-a-vis Afghanistan.
Later, Cameron also held separate meetings with President Asif Ali Zardari and Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. “Terrorism threatens both Pakistan and the UK and challenging the terrorism is a common cause … Pakistan has suffered greatly in combating terrorism and we respect the commitment of Pakistan,” Cameron told the joint press conference.
He said helping the political process in Afghanistan would bring success for both countries. Praising the “resilient” Pakistanis for having fought so hard against terrorism, Cameron gave a hint of his thirst for a wider crackdown in North Waziristan, saying it was right that “neither the Pakistan Army nor the NATO forces must ever tolerate sanctuaries for people plotting violence”.
Cameron also said that the UK had launched a new package to help Pakistan educate 4 million children, train 90,000 teachers and provide 6 million textbooks. He said his government would have to convince the British people that every penny of the aid designed to help Pakistan’s education sector was going into the right places.
“My job is made more difficult when people in Britain look at Pakistan, a country that receives millions of pounds of our aid money, and see weaknesses in terms of government capacity and waste,” he said. He admitted that the British visa policy was made a bit conservative, adding that the decision was taken as more people were misusing the education visa for work purpose.
The two countries also issued a declaration on Pakistan-UK Enhanced Strategic Dialogue. According to declaration, the UK would pursue greater trade access to the European Union (EU) for Pakistan including a free trade agreement between Pakistan and the EU. Both sides, it said, would encourage and facilitate corporate cooperation in areas of mutual interest and importance.
The two sides also agreed to start a civilian-military National Security Dialogue comprising discussion on regional security, counter-terrorism and non-proliferation. Gilani said the two sides had also discussed in detail the regional situation and he had briefed Cameron about his recent meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Mohali and the resumption of the dialogue process.
Later, addressing students at COMSATS University, Cameron urged Pakistan and India to forge friendly ties and build on the recent tentative steps towards better relations, saying the time was ripe for both nations to put their history of war and mistrust behind them.
Cameron said that he believed it was time the two countries looked beyond what divided them and embraced what united them. “I know there are some who claim that in this part of the world, Britain will always side with India and that can be a source of tension. And of course, there have been accusations that in the past, countries in this region have been played off one against the other by the West,” he said. “India is very important to the UK.
Pakistan is very important to us too,” he said. Britain did not have to choose between a strong relationship with either Pakistan or India and it wanted strong ties with both, he added.
