KARACHI: Ambassador of Denmark to Pakistan, Jesper Moller Sorensen here on Monday , highlighting the importance of education in building of a nation, suggested that Pakistan Government should increase its budget for education as this shall be the best future investment.
In his dialogue at Pakistan Institute of International Affairs (PIIA) about Denmark's engagement in Pakistan and Denmark's view on the developments within the European Union, the Ambassador said his country has been supporting Pakistan in promoting quality education especially in ' conflict-hit' areas of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa and Balochistan. Hundreds of schools have been rehabilitated there.
Being a small economy , Denmark had very limited engagements in Pakistan. However, over last couple of years these have been increased. In 2010, Denmark came up with Financial Assistance Programme for Pakistan with focus on education.
Denmark is supporting civil society organisations here. The Youth Parliament here was given financial aid of dollars 3.5 million. Pakistan has a large youth force and this is the real driver of change in a country.
"It is important for me to have direct contact with new generation," he said adding that Denmark Embassy in Islamabad ranks second among his country's missions throughout the world which uses more face-book facility to have maximum contact with the civil society here.
To a query, he said : " True picture for Pakistan is, here are certain issues including security which concern us. Our companies also do question about poor security situation. However, Pakistan is land of potential economic opportunities. We are encouraging our companies to come here." He informed that the bilateral trade has witnessed increase in last couple of years. Last year, Denmark's exports to Pakistan were dollars 326 million. The services sector has major portion in these exports. Whereas, Pakistan's exports amounted to dollars 269 million.
He said : " most importantly, we are now focussing on promotion of trade between our countries. We believe Pakistan should - in the long run- live by its own resources. That is also the reason why Denmark was a strong supporter of GSP plus status for Pakistan." " Expanding our economic ties is closely linked to our development goals. This will provide opportunities for every citizen, help in economic growth and ultimately assist in poverty reduction," he added. He said there is a great potential of trade and investment between Denmark and Pakistan especially for joint ventures. He said Denmark can also help Pakistan in wind-mill energy sector.
He noted it positive that there is future of energy mix in Pakistan. It has huge potential of wind-mill energy. Only Sindh corridor has more than 5,000 MW potential, he said.
He said Denmark is focusing on setting up off-shore wind-mill facilities. Danish companies are good in wind-mill energy sector; not only in generation but also efficient use of energy. Pakistan can benefit from their expertise, he said.
"54 % of our energy comes from wind-mill during the month of December," he said.
Danish Ambassador said that his country was engaged in public diplomacy here at different level of the society including media- to-media contact.
In 2015, his country will arrange cultural programs in Pakistan to promote people-to-people contact. He said 25,000 Pakistanis are living in Denmark which has only 5.6 million population and is spread over 450 small islands. These Pakistanis have been actively participating in the social and economic sectors there. Besides significant presence at the local governments level, one Danish of Pakistani origin is the member of Denmark parliament.
He spoke of Denmark's welfare system. It is mainly based on better taxation system and free education up to higher education. "It is difficult to be rich in Denmark but it is very difficult to be very poor there," he remarked.
He said Denmark's policy of becoming a member of European Union is based on, how much EU can support Danish people for their social and economic change.
He said that there are visible signs that Europe was coming out of crisis. EU comprises 28 different countries. Over last couple of years, EU has managed to make some very difficult and important reforms, he said.
The Danish Ambassador said his country strongly believed in free trade and that is why, it supports free trade agreements. We also strongly supported Pakistan in getting GSP-plus status in European Union; providing duty free access for Pakistani goods to EU markets.
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