Punjab eyeing UK help in education

LAHORE Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif has said he is visiting the UK next month on the invitation of British Prime Minister David Cameron to have productive talks with him on education. In an exclusive talk with TheNation, Shahbaz said: I have great hopes for the future of this collaboration, and I believe I speak for my people when I say we are happy for our countries to grow together as friends, in a relationship tempered by a respect for each others values and needs. The chief minister said that in this rapidly changing scenario national boundaries are increasingly blurred by a greater appreciation of our shared humanity and shared goals. The Chief Minister said the progress of human civilisation in the coming century will demand the highest devotion to public service from all of us. Shahbaz Sharif said we should work together to combat the great human ills of our time: poverty, ignorance and terrorism. In Punjab, we are working with Britains Department for International Development with a sector-specific and systematic approach to raise basic education levels and improving employability and reducing the effects of poverty, he said. In particular, 'Punjab Schools Reform Roadmap and the 'Punjab Economic Opportunities Program have helped a lot in this regard and we are excited by the opportunities these present for our people, he added. Shahabaz Sharif congratulated Queen Elizabeth II on her 85th birthday and said: 63 years later, we are assembled to pay our respects to Queen Elizabeth II and to a lifetime public service rendered by her. It is also appropriate to match these words with our congratulations to royal couple Prince William and his wife, the new Duchess of Cambridge, who contracted marriage just a weeks ago. We hope that they too will undertake to represent young people, and to champion their problems with voices that will be heard across the world.