Chairman Senate Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani on Friday said improved peace and security situation in Pakistan now underpins conducive environment for investment and foreign investors can benefit from the new emerging realities to invest in different sectors.
While exchanging views with British High Commissioner Thomas Drew at the Parliament House today, Senate Chairman particularly mentioned Baluchistan and Gwadar offering abundant opportunities for investment as Gwadar was being regarded as future of regional development.
He said that Pakistan highly values it bilateral ties with United Kingdom and we desire to further expand our relations in different sectors. He emphasized the need for providing more scholarships for Pakistani students to provide them opportunities to study in institutes of higher learning.
Sanjrani said enhanced parliamentary linkages and institutional collaboration would help in building consensus on many issues. He called for cooperation in legislative, administrative, research, library, public relations and other areas between the two parliaments to learn and share expertise.
He said that British democratic traditions and values have a history and Pakistan can benefit from the experiences of UK parliament in this regard.
British High Commissioner endorsed the views of Chairman Senate and said that security situation in Pakistan has improved a lot. “The leading flag carrier British Airways has decided to resume its flight operation from Pakistan which would help contribute towards building investors’ confidence for investment in Pakistan” , The High Commissioner said.
He further said that United Kingdom has provided huge assistance to Pakistan for social sector development. He informed that Commonwealth Scholarship scheme and Chevening program are providing opportunities to Pakistani students to study in UK universities.
Chairman Senate, during the meeting, also extended invitation to the British High Commissioner to visit Gwadar and see the environment for investment. He specially thanked the government, parliament and all parties in the parliament of UK for highlighting Kashmir issue during the recent visit of Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Sadiq Sanjrani also extended invitation to his counterpart in House of Lords and handed over formal invitation to British High Commissioner in the meeting.
Later, Chairman Senate in a separate meeting with Ambassador of Egypt Ahmed Muhammad Fadal Yacoub underscored the need for making joint efforts to promote peace and security at regional and global level. He termed the recent friction between the Muslim Ummah as unfortunate which has marginalized the growth and development of the region. He said that dialogue is the only panacea for resolving our issues as war would only bring destruction. He said that Pakistan and Egypt have socio-economic and cultural commonalities. Sanjrani also proposed for scholarships for Pakistani students to study at Al Azhar University.
Egyptian Ambassador agreed with the views of Chairman Senate and said that enhanced institutional linkages and bilateral contacts would further pave the way for exploring new avenues of cooperation.
Published in Daily Times, February 16th 2019.
