PM seeks closer UK trade ties at King Charles birthday reception

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told a reception at the British High Commission in Islamabad on Friday that Pakistan and Britain should build an economic partnership to match their friendship, putting bilateral trade at about £5.5 billion and saying both sides should aim higher.

The reception marked the 78th birthday of King Charles III. Sharif said he had changed his travel plans to attend and extended congratulations to the King, Queen Camilla and the royal family on behalf of the government and people of Pakistan. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, federal ministers Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Attaullah Tarar and Azam Nazeer Tarar, Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb, and state ministers Talal Chaudhary and Barrister Aqeel Malik attended.

The prime minister said renewed macroeconomic stability had opened opportunities for British investors in technology, renewable energy, agriculture, minerals and textiles. He said Pakistan International Airlines had resumed direct flights from Islamabad and Lahore to Heathrow in March, restoring a link broken for six years, and described the 1.7 million Britons of Pakistani heritage as a bridge between the two countries.

Sharif said Pakistan was emerging as a destination for UK transnational education and recalled the ties of Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Muhammad Iqbal to Britain. Speaking after returning from COP31 in Antalya, he said the King had championed ideas central to the global climate agenda decades ago, and that Pakistan was proud to be a member of the Commonwealth, which the King heads.

British High Commissioner Jane Marriott told the same event that the UK was Pakistan's third largest bilateral trading partner, with trade reaching £6 billion over the past year, and that about 78 per cent of Pakistan's exports to Britain are clothing and textiles, including thread used in Kevlar protective equipment. She said the UK had signed its first Chevening partnership with Allied Bank, that the British Council administers around one million exams across Pakistan, and that a UK-Pakistan trade summit was held in West Yorkshire a day earlier, with a UK-Pakistan Trade Dialogue and an Invest in Pakistan Now Summit planned for December.

Marriott said the evening's theme was British and Pakistani creativity in fashion, design, technology, AI and engineering, and that this was her fourth and last King's birthday reception as high commissioner. She is due to leave Pakistan next year. Sharif credited her with promoting economic and diplomatic ties during her four-year tenure and wished her well.

On foreign policy, the prime minister said dialogue must prevail over confrontation and that Pakistan had played a constructive role this year in facilitating talks between the United States and Iran, including the Islamabad talks in April. He thanked Britain for supporting Pakistan's diplomatic efforts. He opened his remarks with a cricket anecdote about a Lahore match in which Pakistan chased 241 against England, with a last-wicket stand between Shadab Khan and Haris Rauf turning the game.