Australian Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs visits Pakistan

(2013-11-06)

The Australian Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Senator Brett Mason, on his two day visit to Pakistan, called on Mr. Sartaj Aziz, Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs yesterday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Islamabad. He also held meetings with Syed Tariq Fatemi, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs and Mr. Jalil Abbass Jillani, Foreign Secretary.
During the above meetings of the envoy of the new Australian government, the two sides discussed regional developments including peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan and agreed to working closely for regional stability and development. They agreed to enhance bilateral cooperation, with a focus on trade and investment opportunities in Pakistan.
In Senator’s meeting with the Advisor a wide range of bilateral issues including trade, security, development cooperation, education and investment were discussed. The Adviser thanked the Australian Government for its development assistance to Pakistan, particularly towards human capital and development in agriculture and livestock. He invited Australian companies to invest in energy-sector and assist in water-management. The Senator highlighted that his country was working closely with Pakistan under various economic and development assistance programs including building skills and capacity of our security officials. He expressed his Government’s interest to established linkages between the educational institutions of the two countries to enhance people-to-people contact.
The visit of the Australian Parliamentary Secretary underlines the importance Australia attaches to its relations with Pakistan and is part of regular high level contacts between the governments of the two friendly countries.

Islamabad
6 November 2013

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