ISLAMABAD: Minister for Interior Mohsin Naqvi and Home Secretary of UK James Cleverly witnessed signing of Letter of Intent (LOI) between government of United Kingdom and Pakistan at Home Office, London.

High Commissioner Dr. Muhammad Faisal signed LOI on behalf of government of Pakistan. According to press release, LOI is aimed at collaboration between Pakistan and UK to work together on law enforcement cooperation and criminal justice issues. It specifically addresses issues to tackle illegal migration and organised immigration crime and to exploring future opportunities that benefit both countries. It will facilitate liaison between UK and Pakistan law enforcement agencies, in support of joint efforts to tackle transnational crime, including narcotics control, investigations of serious criminality and organised immigration crime. Under implementation mechanism, cooperation will be overseen by joint Steering Committee, chaired by Ministry of Interior and comprising of representatives of Interior Ministry, National Police Bureau, British High Commission (supported by Home Office), programme team and other relevant agencies.

This agreement will help establish cooperation in ability to share international criminal conviction data and analytics to prepare pre-emptive plans for crime prevention. Improving joint collaboration to tackle illicit finance threats, detecting criminality at air and sea borders, improving ability to facilitate extradition requests from UK to Pakistan and Pakistan to UK are also part of LOI. LOI will also help in creating awareness and understanding of mutual legal assistance process in both countries. An important part of LOI is capacity building that encompasses exchange of information and knowledge; exchange of experts, field trips; training of staff, joint projects; conferences, workshops and provision of specific equipment. Home Secretary said that UK highly valued relations with Pakistan and appreciated Pakistan’s support and cooperation in evacuating British citizens from Afghanistan. James Cleverly said that contribution of Pakistani Diaspora in UK extremely significant in areas of cultural, social and economic domains.