Islamabad: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf left on Saturday on a five-day official visit to Britain, just five weeks before the expiry of the five-year term of the Pakistan People’s Party government on March 16.
He will hold talks with the British leadership on bilateral relations, the regional situation and international issues, officials said.
Talking to reporters before his departure at the Noor Khan airbase in Islamabad‚ the prime minister said he was hopeful his first official visit to the UK would help enhance bilateral partnership and cooperation.
Pakistan attaches great importance to its relations with the UK which is “our second largest trading partner in the European Union”, he said.
Bilateral trade reached £1.9 billion (Dh10.99 billion) last year with the balance of trade in Pakistan’s favour. Sustained efforts are needed to achieve the target set under the Pak-UK Trade and Investment Roadmap to raise the level of trade to £2.5 billion by 2015, Ashraf said.
During the visit‚ he will meet British Prime Minister David Cameron and also interact with the Pakistani diaspora and the British media and parliamentarians, he said.
He noted that Britain has allocated £1.4 billion under the new Operational Plan for Pakistan, making it the largest recipient of UK development assistance in the world.
Ashraf said holding free‚ fair‚ transparent and impartial elections in the country “is our goal” and there is agreement among all the political parties for holding timely elections. No date has been announced yet but polls are expected in May.
He said for the first time in Pakistan an elected government and the parliament are completing their stipulated tenure and the nation should be proud of this.
