Pakistan on Saturday offered to the United Kingdom sale of quality arms and ammunitions manufactured in the country's largest ordinances factory at Wah Cantt. At a joint press conference with his British counterpart David Miliband who is on his two-day official visit to Pakistan, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that Pakistan has given proposal to Britain to purchase Pakistan's best arms and ammunition for meeting its own and the coalition forces' requirements.
Qureshi said that the two sides also agreed to continue strategic dialogue and their structure, and a schedule was also given to the UK delegates. David Miliband said that the basic purpose of his visit to Pakistan was the forthcoming London conference on Afghanistan which will take place on the January 28 to discuss the viewpoint of Pakistan.
The British Foreign Secretary said that Pakistan's stability hinged on peace in Afghanistan, and added that UK believed in result-oriented talks with Pakistan in this regard. The conference, he said, would bring together over 60 countries to talk about how the international community could support the government of Afghanistan to handle the situation.
He said that Pakistan has significant role in peace, stability and economic prosperity of Afghanistan. "Peace and stability in Afghanistan is in the larger interest of Pakistan, and Pakistan can play an important role in this regard", he said. Miliband appreciated the relations of Pakistan's democratic government with Afghanistan during the last one and half year.
About promised aid, the UK Foreign Secretary said that UK was committed to fiscal support to Pakistan and was to provide 65 million pounds in three years. He assured of fulfilling the promise, saying that "we believe in turning words into deeds, and it is the basis of our bilateral ties".
The Britain's Foreign Secretary said that there was no threat for the government in Pakistan, and UK would support democracy and help in strengthening the democratic institutions. "There are significant untapped strategic, trade and development potential and both sides need to exploit it", Miliband said.
Pakistan and UK, he said, have also decided to form an Educational Task Force to promote quality education in Pakistan. He added that services of British educational experts would be hired in this regard. The Foreign Secretary said that the UK and Pakistan are very close partners, linked not just by history but by families in Britain, who have got families in Pakistan, and by cultural links, by business links and by shared political commitments.
Appreciating the role of Pakistan's armed forces as well as Pakistan's civilians in the war on terror, he said, they have suffered greatly from terrorist violence and they are giving sacrifice in taking on the internal terrorist threat that is the greatest threat to the future of Pakistan.
He added that they discussed how Pakistan is rising to the challenge with international support in addressing the dangers that it faces. Regarding UK's role in Pak-India relations, he said that when he visited Pakistan in January 2009 there were much severe relations between the two countries and now they have normalised, adding that Pakistan's move to trial some of the suspects of Mumbai attacks was also a positive thing.
Qureshi said that during the meeting, the two sides also discussed the issue being faced by Pakistani citizens in the wake of issuance of British visa, but it seemed that there has been no significant progress in this regard. He said that the two sides also agreed to enhance bilateral trade, investment, and interfaith dialogue bridging the gaps. He added that public-private partnership conference of FODP would be held in Dubai on January 26, and UK has agreed to support Pakistan, not only at government level but also at private level.
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