While he will have more than his fair share of politics to deal with once he’s back home, the prime minister is focused on economics and education here in England.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani spent a busy day in London on Friday trying to make good on a joint pledge with his British counterpart to enhance ties between the United Kingdom and Pakistan in the fields of business and education.
He held a spate of meetings with some key players, including the who’s who of the two fields in London.
First up was a visit to the headquarters of global banking giant Standard Chartered – which was followed by a visit to the London Stock Exchange, where he met with “prominent” investors and businessmen – a meeting that was hosted by the Chief Executive of the Exchange.
The prime minister was keen to allay the security fears of potential investors, saying that most of the perceptions were “exaggerated.”
“Despite the negative security perceptions of Pakistan in the media, the trade and investment environment has remained positive,” he said.
The premier urged British investors to consider Pakistan, and encourage businesses here to use the London Stock Exchange (LSE) to raise capital for investment in Pakistan.
He pointed out that the UK was the second-largest investor country for Pakistan with a total foreign direct investment of 133 million pounds in 2010-11.
He said his counterpart David Cameron also reaffirmed UK support for Pakistan for greater market access to the European Union – and also said that Pakistan served as an important port for access to landlocked countries such as Afghanistan and the central Asian states.
The prime minister was also very keen to point out the recent strides made with India.
“Our trade with India has moved from the positive to negative list and integrated border check posts have opened on both sides of the border and road traffic has increased between the two countries,” he said.
He added he would like to see more Pakistani companies and investors listed with the LSE. At the moment, only four Pakistani companies are listed and traded on the London Stock Exchange: The state-owned Oil & Gas Development Company Limited, United Bank, MCB and Lucky Cement.
The premier also met with vice chancellors of British universities.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 12th, 2012.
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Meeting educationist for what? It is a publicity stunt. If he was interested in education he would have condemned the blowing up of girl’s schools in his country. He would have ordered his officials to act on the culprits but he did not. So it is just a photo op. Yawn.