Pakistani prime minister leaves for 5 days UK visit

Pakistani Prime Minister, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Saturday left for London on a five-day official visit for talks with the British leaders and lawmakers to further promote bilateral relations between the two countries, local media reported. "I shall hold a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron to discuss issues of mutual interest," the Prime Minister said in his departure statement. "The meeting will provide an opportunity to identify ways and means to further raise the level of bilateral cooperation and discuss important regional and international issues," Raja Pervez Ashraf said. He said he will also interact with Pakistani Diaspora, media as well as British Parliamentarians in his first official visit to Britain since he assumed office in June last year. Raja Pervez Asharf is the second top Pakistani leader to visit Britain in two weeks. President Asif Ali Zardari visited London earlier this month for a trilateral summit on Afghanistan. The prime minister said the visit will further enhance the existing friendly relations between the UK and Pakistan. "The UK is Pakistan's second largest trading partner in the EU. The bilateral trade reached 1.9 billion pounds (about 2.99 billion U.S. dollars) mark in 2012, with the balance of trade in Pakistan's favour," he said. He said that sustained efforts are needed to achieve the target set under Pakistan-UK Trade and Investment Roadmap to raise the level of trade to 2.5 billion pounds by 2015. "The visit will also provide an opportunity to reiterate Pakistan's interest for inclusion in the GSP Plus in 2014." Under the new UK Operational Plan for Pakistan (2011-2015), almost 1.4 billion pounds has been allocated for Pakistan, primarily in the education sector. This makes Pakistan the largest recipient of UK development assistance in the world. Pakistan appreciates this assistance package, which was announced during Prime Minister Cameron's visit to Islamabad in April 2011. Raja Pervez Ashraf said Pakistan attaches great importance to its relations with the UK, which has been an important development partner of Pakistan.