LAHORE: The British High Commissioner Dr Christian Turner met Chief Minister Punjab, Chaudhry Parvez Elahi and former federal minister Moonis Elahi, here on Wednesday and discussed matters of mutual interest.

In the meeting, it was resolved that the Punjab government and the UK would promote cooperation in various fields including health and technical education.

The British high commissioner expressed his regret over the loss of life and property due to floods and vowed to continue cooperating with the Punjab government in education, health and other sectors.

The Punjab CM termed Pakistan and the UK strong partners of development and prosperity and appreciated the UK’s contribution to helping the flood victims. The provincial government values British cooperation for improvement in peace and security and social sectors; he said and expressed the desire to expand the bilateral relations in different fields.

The government would extend the ongoing reforms programme initiated with British cooperation in different sectors; he stated and added that a comprehensive plan has been devised for the rehabilitation of flood-affected areas and the victims. The survey has started to recover the losses of livestock; he mentioned and informed the British HC that houses would be built for the flood victims.

The CM said that a plan was devised to secure the rainwater in the mountainous area of Koh-e-Sulaiman in 2002 but the subsequent government didn’t do any work on this project. Now, the provincial government was going to restart this scheme; he added. He hoped that this beneficial project would help deal with the situation caused by rains in Koh-e-Sulaiman. Alongside, the government was also lifting the ban on recruitment early to provide jobs, he concluded.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022