UK Envoy Meets With New Pakistani Prime Minister to Discuss Bilateral Cooperation

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - British High Commissioner in Pakistan Christian Turner and newly elected Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif discussed issues of shared interest and agreed to strengthen cooperation in trade, economy and education during a bilateral meeting in Islamabad on Wednesday.

"British High Commissioner Christian Turner on Wednesday met Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif at PM House. Congratulating the Prime Minister on assuming office, the High Commissioner stressed the deep people-to-people ties between the two countries, in this 75th anniversary year of bilateral relations", Turner's office said in a statement.

According to the statement, the UK envoy and the Pakistani prime minister expressed their desire to work together on issues of shared interest, including trade, economy, education and global challenges.

Turner stressed that the UK assistance had provided 16 million Pakistani children with an opportunity to attend schools since 2011.

On 9 April, the Pakistani parliament ousted then-Prime Minister Imran Khan in a vote of no confidence, with the motion succeeding by a unanimous vote of 174-0. On April 11, lawmakers elected opposition leader Sharif from the Pakistan Muslim League-N as the new prime minister.

FILE PHOTO: Imran Khan, chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), gestures while addressing his supporters during a campaign meeting ahead of general elections in Karachi, Pakistan, July 4, 2018.

© REUTERS / Akhtar Soomro

On the eve of the election a wave of protests swept the country. Thousands of people participated in rallies in support of Khan and his Tehreek-e-Insaf party. According to the ousted prime minister, his independent foreign policy irritated foreign powers, including the United States, and they financed the opposition's actions on a vote of no confidence. The US State Department has dismissed Khan's statement as false.

Shortly after the appointment of the new prime minister, Khan demanded that parliamentary elections be held immediately, in which a new head of government would be designated.