Daily Times

LONDON: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi Friday highlighted the plight of the Kashmiri people and urged the international community to respond to the current human rights violations by Indian security forces in the occupied valley.

In a meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May on the sidelines of Commonwealth leaders retreat here at the Windsor Castle, the prime minister detailed Pakistan’s efforts in fighting terrorism and extremism. He also spoke of his visit to Kabul and underscored Pakistan’s commitment to peace and stability in Afghanistan.

He underscored the importance of strengthening bilateral relations especially in the context of trade and investment and thanked UK for the work done by its development agency in Pakistan. He also appreciated the appointment of a trade envoy by the UK government to help explore trade and investment opportunities between the two countries, especially in the post-Brexit context.

He congratulated Prime Minister Theresa May on a very efficient steering of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.

The British prime minister appreciated Pakistan’s efforts in fighting terrorism and in that context recalled Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s reference to more than 100,000 Pakistanis affected in fight against terrorism over the past 10 years. She appreciated Prime Minister Abbasi’s efforts in reaching out to Afghanistan especially during his recent visit to Kabul. She said that Pakistan-UK relations were strong and underscored the importance of further enhancing trade between the two countries. In response to PM May’s reference to the recent alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria, Prime Minister Abbasi recalled Pakistan’s principled position of condemning any use of chemical weapons and upholding the principles of the UN Charter.

On the second day of Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM-2018), the prime minister joined the leaders of CW countries at three retreat sessions of the Summit.

During the retreat sessions held in Windsor Castle, the prime minister interacted and had frank discussion on various issues of mutual interest with several leaders from Commonwealth countries.

Prime Minister Abbasi, who was here to attend CHOGM Summit – first in London in 40 years – actively participated in the executive sessions on Thursday and presented Pakistan’s vision on economy, security and sustainable development. Prime Minister Abbasi also attended a reception hosted by British Queen Elizabeth-II for the new heads of government from the Commonwealth countries at Buckingham Palace. Later, the prime minister also joined the leaders from CW countries at a dinner reception hosted by the British Queen.

Published in Daily Times, April 21^st 2018.