PM links the monarch’s climate advocacy to COP31, celebrates the return of PIA’s London flights and calls £5.5bn trade too small.
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif marked King Charles III’s 78th birthday at the British High Commission in Islamabad on Thursday, praising the monarch’s record of public service and urging both countries to aim far higher than their current trade.
Sharif, who cut a birthday cake at the reception, extended greetings to the King, Queen Camilla and the royal family on behalf of the government and people of Pakistan.
The prime minister said he had just returned from the COP31 climate summit in Antalya, and noted that many ideas now central to the global climate agenda were championed by the King decades ago. He called the King, as head of the Commonwealth, the symbol of a family of nations united in diversity.
Sharif recalled that at last year’s celebration he had hoped direct flights to London would resume. “I am delighted that this has now become a reality,” he said, noting that Pakistan International Airlines has flown directly from Islamabad and Lahore to Heathrow since March, restoring the link after six years.
For Lahore, the route ends years of one-stop journeys for families travelling to Birmingham, Bradford, Manchester and London.
Bilateral trade stands at about £5.5 billion, which Sharif called encouraging but well short of potential. Citing renewed macroeconomic stability, he pointed to opportunities in technology, renewable energy, agriculture, minerals and textiles.
He described the 1.7 million British citizens of Pakistani heritage as the living embodiment of the relationship’s greatest strength.
Sharif noted that Pakistan has become an important destination for UK transnational education, with British universities offering degrees through local partners. He also recalled the deep intellectual ties of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Muhammad Iqbal with Britain, where both studied.
The friendship, he said, rests on a shared conviction that peace is the foundation of prosperity and that dialogue must prevail over confrontation, a line that also reflects Islamabad’s recent mediation efforts in the region. Britain and Pakistan have also been working on climate policy at provincial level, with Punjab drafting a climate law modelled partly on UK legislation.
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