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PAKISTAN – UK RELATIONS, CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES AND WAY FORWARD -28 JANUARY 2021

His Excellency Christian Turner, CMG is an accomplished diplomat of Foreign Service of UK and British High Commissioner to Pakistan. He visited Command and Staff College on 28 January 2021 and spoke to students on Pak-UK Relations, Challenges, Opportunities and Way Forward. He opened his talk by admiring the historical ties between both countries and highlighted that 1.6 Mn Pakistani Diaspora is the biggest asset of relations between both countries, whereas, military and defence ties are at the heart of these relations. He mentioned about the effects of COVID-19 causing greatest recession in history of UK and emphasized upon the need of combined efforts to counter this pandemic. During the course of his talk he highlighted 5 major challenges including envisaged contestation between China and USA; Hybrid threat; industrial and technological advancement (especially in the field of  Artificial Intelligence); rapid growth of population and environment stresses (to include climate change). He dwelled upon the response options available with UK to address these challenges while explaining about the “Fusion Doctrine” which forms the core of UK’s National Security Policy. He also referred to the above mentioned challenges in Pakistan’s context with a response mechanism involving Economic Security, resolution of Kashmir Dispute through dialogue and completion of CPEC project while guarding Pakistan’s interests. In the end he appreciated the facilitation of intra Afghan Dialogue and sacrifices given by Pakistan’s military and nation to bring lasting peace in the region. He concluded his talk with the hope of successful conduct of Pakistan – England Cricket Series planned in October this year.