British HC sees Karachi becoming great city in next 10 years

KARACHI: Newly appointed British High Commissioner in Pakistan Thomas Drew CMG believes that Karachi has the potential to become one of the world’s great cities in the next 10 years.

He was speaking at a function, organised to celebrate the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II at the Deputy High Commission in Karachi. He said: “I find Karachi’s potential exciting. As a friend of Pakistan since I first arrived 10 years ago, I am also enjoying watching others wake up to that potential.

“The outside world may not yet view Karachi through quite the same prism as some of the world’s other mega cities – Shanghai, Mumbai, Sao Paolo etc. But it won't take long. “That this city and country does fulfil this huge potential is of enormous importance to the UK. The nice thing about being a British diplomat in Pakistan is that our interests really are aligned.

“It really is the case that what is good for Pakistan is good for the UK and vice versa. Pakistan matters for us and that’s why we have our second biggest diplomatic mission in the world here.

“We have our biggest bilateral development programme here, and we have just opened the British Business Centre in Karachi to help British companies, and are about to open a new British Council Library. We are proud of the success of our British companies here – many of whom are sponsoring tonight’s party.

“In short, we are behind you and want to make a difference – for Karachi, for Sindh, for Pakistan and for the UK. Even better that we can do it with friends like everyone here tonight.” The annual reception was hosted by British Deputy High Commissioner to Karachi John Tucknott MBE at his residence. The chief guest was Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan.