Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Monday that Pakistan was working with European partners to “jointly ban” illegal immigration.
The premier made the remarks while addressing the Pakistan-Austria Business Forum in Vienna, Austria, where he arrived a day earlier for a two-day official visit.
Addressing the forum, PM Shehbaz said Pakistan was “absolutely” against illegal immigration, and gave assurance that the government of Pakistan was “working with our European friends — Austria, France, and Germany — to jointly ban this illegal immigration to a grinding halt”.
“And in return, your demand for skilled labour, we are going to fulfil that demand with international certification to your requirement,” he added.
At the outset of his address, the premier stressed that Pakistan and Austria shared “long-standing friendly relations”.
The premier outlined the areas in which the two countries remained “proactively engaged”, including mining and minerals and renewable energy.
He detailed that he held meetings with the leadership of Austria, stating that he aims “to take many of these discussions to their logical conclusion”.
He noted that 6o per cent of Pakistan’s population was young and “needed modern training in their hands, including laptops, AI, and IT-led initiatives”.
PM Shehbaz presented guard of honour upon arrival at Austrian Chancellery
PM Shehbaz began his two-day visit to Austria as he arrived at the Austrian Chancellery today, where he was presented with a guard of honour and welcomed by Austria’s Federal Chancellor Christian Stocker, the Prime Minister’s Office said.
The statement said that the national anthems of both countries were played at the arrival, and both leaders “introduced their respective delegations to each other before proceeding for tête-à-tête and the delegation-level talks, wherein both sides will take stock of the entire gamut of bilateral relations”.
PM Shehbaz also penned his remarks in the guest book at the Chancellery.
The premier is accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and one of his aides, Tariq Fatemi, during the two-day visit.
This visit marks 70 years of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
In its statement issued on Sunday, the Foreign Office (FO) noted that the trip marked “the first visit by a Pakistani prime minister to Austria in over three decades, the last having been undertaken by the then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 1992”.
