{"id":76474,"date":"2016-11-25T14:36:48","date_gmt":"2016-11-25T14:36:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=732e9842b2022ba7d9752689c061ebf8"},"modified":"2016-11-25T14:36:48","modified_gmt":"2016-11-25T14:36:48","slug":"press-release-foreign-secretary-urges-even-greater-cooperation-during-visit-to-pakistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=76474","title":{"rendered":"Press release: Foreign Secretary urges even greater cooperation during visit to Pakistan"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>Spending two days in Islamabad and Lahore, the Foreign Secretary held talks with Pakistan\u2019s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz, Chief Minister of the Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, opposition leaders including Imran Khan, business CEOs and senior clerics.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Johnson underlined the UK\u2019s determination to boost trade and investment with Pakistan, as well as continuing to support the country\u2019s efforts in tackling extremism and instability.<\/p>\n<p>The Foreign Secretary said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Britain and Pakistan share an old friendship and profound ties of history. No fewer than 1.2 million Britons, around 2 per cent of the entire UK population, are of Pakistani heritage.<\/p>\n<p>It was clear from my visit that our countries can work even closer together to help Pakistan unleash its full potential.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">I held very productive talks with senior Government figures and opposition leaders about our support for Pakistan\u2019s democratic reforms, working together to defeat extremism and creating new trade opportunities.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In addition to meeting political leaders, Mr Johnson heard from schoolgirls attending UK aid-supported Kinnaird Girls School, founded in Lahore by a Scottish family in 1913; watched street cricket with members of Pakistan\u2019s women\u2019s cricket team; and marked the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare\u2019s death with students in the new library of the British Council in Lahore.<\/p>\n<p>The Foreign Secretary also addressed students at the Government College in Lahore, met senior business leaders about investment opportunities, and visited Lahore\u2019s Badshahi Mosque and Lahore Fort.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"further-information\">Further information<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>Follow the Foreign Secretary on Twitter <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BorisJohnson\">@BorisJohnson<\/a> and <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/borisjohnson\">Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Follow the Foreign Office on Twitter <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/foreignoffice\">@foreignoffice<\/a> and <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/foreignoffice?ref=hl\">Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Follow the Foreign Office on <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ukforeignoffice\/\">Instagram<\/a>, <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/ukforeignoffice\">YouTube<\/a> and <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/foreign-and-commonwealth-office?trk=biz-companies-cym\">LinkedIn<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"contact \" id=\"contact_193\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<h3>Media enquiries<\/h3>\n<div class=\"vcard contact-inner\">\n<div class=\"email-url-number\">\n<p class=\"email\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Email<\/span><br \/>\n              <a class=\"email\" href=\"mailto:newsdesk@fco.gov.uk\">newsdesk@fco.gov.uk<\/a>\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">News Desk <\/span><br \/>\n              020 7008 3100\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has hailed Britain&#8217;s &quot;old friendship&quot; with Pakistan as he completes his first official visit to the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76474"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=76474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76474\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=76474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=76474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=76474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}