Pakistan working with European partners to ‘jointly ban’ illegal immigration: PM Shehbaz

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Monday that Pakistan was working with European partners to “jointly ban” illegal immigration.

The prime minister made the comments while addressing the Pakistan-Austria Business Forum in Vienna, where he arrived a day earlier for a two-day official visit.

Speaking at the forum, Prime Minister Shehbaz said that Pakistan was “absolutely” against illegal immigration, and assured that the government of Pakistan was “working with our European friends, Austria, France, and Germany, to jointly ban this illegal immigration [and bring it] to a grinding halt”.

He reiterated that Pakistan would meet Austria’s “demand for skilled labor” as per the international certification required by it.

At the start of his speech, the prime minister reiterated that Pakistan and Austria enjoyed “long-standing friendly relations”.

The prime minister listed the areas in which Pakistan and Austria were “proactively engaged”, including mining and minerals and renewable energy.

He explained that he had meetings with the leadership of Austria, saying that he wants “to take many of these discussions to their logical conclusion”.

He also stated that “6o per cent of the population of Pakistan is young and they required modern training in their hands, including laptops, AI, and IT-led initiatives”.

PM Shehbaz also further added that “Pakistan has huge potential in the agriculture sector”.

“Here, Austria can be a great partner, providing Pakistan with experience and modern technology to have value-addition in the field of citrus root, and make marmalade, juices and export them to Austria, the Middle East and other parts of the world”, the premier added.