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Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Answer

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the purpose was of his official visit to Lahore and Gujarat in February. [223941] Mr. Straw: Whenever possible and appropriate, I try on trips abroad of any length to visit areas beyond the capital cities concerned, as well as the capitals themselves. Thus in early 2004 I visited Peshawar as well as Islamabad, Pakistan, and Bangalore as well as New Delhi, India. In respect of my visit to Pakistan in February 2005, the proposal for a visit to Lahore came initially from the Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Khurshid Kasuri. Lahore is his home. It is the second largest city in Pakistan, and a major centre for the media and commerce, as well as being the capital of Punjab province. Mr. Kasuri arranged for me to meet a wide cross-section of the business and political leaders of the province. In addition, I gave the keynote speech of my visit to Pakistan there, entitled: `Pakistan and the United Kingdom: a modern partnership for engagement and understanding'. I also expressed an interest in visiting one of the major centres to which many of the large UK population of people of Pakistani heritage trace their roots. My original idea was to visit Mirpur, in Pakistani- administered Kashmir. However, I decided not to do so for foreign policy reasons. I then sought suggestions from a number of people of Pakistani origin in the UK, in my Blackburn constituency and elsewhere. Two suggestions were made to me--Jhelum or Gujarat in Punjab province. I decided, following advice from officials, to visit the latter as it was easy to slot into my programme and because it is the home city of the Chief Minister of Punjab province, Pervaiz Ellahi. During my visit to Gujarat I was also able to pursue the Government's consular and immigration objectives. To avoid confusion, I last visited the Indian state of Gujarat (Ahmedabad, the state capital) in September 2000.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

432 c992-3W; 223941

Session

2004-05

Subjects

Ministers Pakistan Visits abroad Gujarat Lahore

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk