Opening Statement by the Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Mr. Sartaj Aziz at the Joint Press Conference with the British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Rt Hon Philip Hammond on 8 March, 2016
I am truly delighted to welcome H.E. Philip Hammond to Pakistan.
This visit of Secretary of State provided a very useful opportunity to review our bilateral relations. We hope this review would help to further strengthen our ties with the UK.
Pakistan and UK enjoy excellent relations and both sides are committed to strengthen them further by expanding trade, promoting investment and providing opportunities for cultural cooperation.
Under the "Enhanced Strategic Dialogue" - we have five strand of cooperation: Trade and Business relations, Financial and Development cooperation, Education and Health, Consultations on Defence and Security and Cultural Cooperation. In 2014 we prepared roadmaps and targets for each strand of cooperation to provide guidance to the concerned Ministries and Organizations for implementation.
Today we reviewed the progress on various aspects of our cooperation including political, trade and investment, education, health, defense.
We are grateful for Britain's assistance and support in many of these areas but specially in the education and health sectors.
In addition, we also discussed regional issues including Afghanistan's peace process and Pakistan's relations with India. Since Mr. Hammond was in Kabul yesterday, he briefed me about his discussions with the Afghan leadership.
I am glad to note that there was commonality of views on various regional and international issues.
I thank H.E. Hammond for his visit and look forward to working with him, in our common endeavour to further enhance our bilateral relations.
Thank you!