London: The 15th Round of the UK-Pakistan Defence Cooperation Forum was organised in London, UK, on Monday.
While the UK delegation at the event was headed by Stephen Lovegrove, Permanent Under Secretary of State for Defence, the Pakistani delegation was led by Lt Gen (Retd) Muhammad Alam Khattak, Secretary Defence The Forum is among the five strands of operation, under the umbrella of “Enhanced Security Dialogue Forum” , between the two countries. Before calling on the Plenary Session, Khattak called on Lovegrove in his office to discuss various issues relating to bilateral security cooperation as well as counter-terrorism. Both sides exchanged their views on enhancing and diversifying defence cooperation between the two countries.The officials also deliberated upon various areas of mutual interest, which include respective regional security, counter-terrorism, Afghanistan situation and a review of national security priorities, such as extremist threats, border management and maritime security.The successes achieved by the Government of Pakistan through Operation Zarb-e-Azb and National Action Plan were also discussed. These talks were held in a cordial atmosphere, where the two delegation leaders shared their resolve to work together for enhancing and diversifying co-operation in the fields of defence and security. They also agreed upon convening the 16th Round of Pakistan-UK Defence Cooperation Forum in Pakistan in 2017.
