Pakistan, UK to bolster trade, climate cooperation

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the United Kingdom on Tuesday reaffirmed the importance of strong Pakistan-UK relations and underscored shared interest in promoting cooperation in trade, investment and climate action.

For Pakistan, it is important to transform the close relationship between the two countries into an enhanced strategic partnership at a time when the British Pakistani community in Great Britain stands at 1.7 million strong.

These views were exchanged between the two sides when Hamish Falconer, the UK Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan), called on Deputy Prime Minister / Foreign Minister Senator Ishaq Dar at the Foreign Office where they reviewed bilateral relations and discussed regional issues of common interest, said the Foreign Office.

Falconer is a British Labour Party politician and former diplomat, who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Lincoln since 2024 and has been serving as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan since July 2024.

Of importance are the talks on addressing climate change-related challenges at a time when Pakistan is the 5th most vulnerable country to climate change but contributes only about 0.88% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Ishaq Dar raised the issue of peace and stability in the region and briefed Falconer on Pakistan’s perspective on Afghanistan and the evolving situation in South Asia. “He stressed that resolution of longstanding disputes, including the core Jammu and Kashmir dispute, was critical to achieving lasting peace and stability in South Asia,” noted the Foreign Office.

Falconer underlined the importance accorded by the United Kingdom to its relations with Pakistan, pointing out that the UK was looking forward to working with Pakistan at the UN Security Council.

Meanwhile, Pakistan and Kazakhstan during their third round of bilateral political consultations at the Foreign Office discussed important regional and global developments, including the situation in Ukraine, Afghanistan and Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir. Additional Foreign Secretary (Afghanistan & West Asia) Ambassador Ahmad Naseem Warraich led the Pakistan side while the Kazakh side was led by Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Alibek Bakayev. “The two sides comprehensively reviewed the bilateral cooperation between Pakistan and Kazakhstan, including political relations, inter-parliamentary exchanges economic and trade ties, connectivity, education, information technology, telecommunication, culture and tourism,” said the Foreign Office. Expressing satisfaction at the current trajectory of bilateral relations, the two sides reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining the momentum in bilateral cooperation, and to collaborate closely at multilateral fora. It was agreed to enhance bilateral trade and economic relations and to expand collaboration in tourism and information technology.

The US Ambassador, Donald Blome, also called on the Deputy Prime Minister/ Foreign Minister, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar at the Foreign Office, where bilateral issues of mutual interest were discussed during the meeting, said the Foreign Office but provided no details of the discussions.

After the recent elections in the United States which saw the return of President-elect Donald Trump, this was the first formal meeting held between Dar and Blome.