News
Thursday, September 02, 2010
Zardari seeks UK help to improve Sukkur Barrage
* President says damage too huge for Pakistan to handle alone
* Urges access to European markets, more aid for flood victims
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday urged the British government to send a team of its experts to see what improvements could be made to the Sukkur Barrage to enable it to withstand the onslaught of future floods, according to a press release.
Talking to British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who called on him at Sukkur, the president said that as the Sukkur Barrage was built by the British in 1932, their experts were better placed to give advice on what improvements could be made to the 80-year-old barrage.
Clegg accepted the president’s suggestion and promised to send a team of British experts.
The president said that the damage caused by the floods was colossal and it was beyond Pakistan’s capacity to handle their disastrous effects on its own.
He urged the British deputy prime minister to sensitise the European Union and the international community about Pakistan’s need for enhanced market access, and to mobilise assistance for the flood-affected.
He added that the government had devised a transparent scheme for judicious utilisation of the aid money.
The two leaders discussed bilateral relations and the situation in the region. President Zardari said that Pakistan supported President Karzai’s efforts for political reconciliation in Afghanistan and briefed the British leader on the outcome of the quadrilateral summit held in the Russian town of Sochi.
Briefing the British deputy prime minister on Pakistan’s counterterrorism efforts, the president reiterated Pakistan’s determination to root out the menace from its soil and to help the international community build a terror-free world.
President Zardari congratulated Clegg on his assumption of his office, and thanked the British government for the 64 million pounds given for flood relief.
Clegg, who earlier toured some flood-affected areas condoled with the president over the loss of life and infrastructure by the floods.
Conveying sympathies of the British people and its government, Clegg said Britain would continue to lend support to Pakistan to meet the enormous challenge it was facing. Clegg said that Britain wished to see Pakistan achieve economic strength and stability and would continue to push Pakistan’s case for market access with the EU countries. He said that Britain was keen to work with Pakistan on a long-term partnership basis.
Separately, Clegg along with a delegation called on Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat and held talks with him
Gilani told the British leader that immediate rehabilitation of the displaced was the most important aspect of his government’s overall three-pronged strategy, which included rescue and relief for the flood victims, to provide them with shelter and help them rebuild their houses, and enable the affected farmers to resume agricultural activities and to reconstruct the damaged infrastructure.
The PM said his government had to move fast to provide shelter and cash compensation to the flood-affected to rebuild their destroyed houses, as any delay might lead to socio-economic unrest, which could divert Pakistan’s attention from the war against terrorism, he added.
Gilani briefed Clegg on the devastation caused by the floods and appreciated UK’s substantial assistance for Pakistan’s flood relief efforts, and those of the international community.
He said, however, given the scale of the catastrophe, a much larger international contribution was needed to help Pakistan cope with the rehabilitation and reconstruction phase.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk