John Howard arrives in Capital
Staff Report

ISLAMABAD—The Australian Prime Minister John Howard arrived here Monday on a three-day visit. It is Prime Minister Howard’s first visit to Pakistan and the second by an Australian Prime Minister to the country. He was received at the airport by the Minister in waiting Ejaz ul Haq, Australian High Commissioner to Pakistan Zorica McCarthy and other senior civil and military officials.
A formal welcome ceremony would be held Tuesday morning at the Prime Minister House. The Australian Prime Minister John Howard will discuss full range of bilateral relations and sign agreements on agriculture, natural gas excavation and scholarships in higher education during his three-day visit to Pakistan.
John Howard, will be the second head of the government from Australia to visit Pakistan. His visit comes in the wake of the visit by President General Pervez Musharraf in June this year to Australia that was described “an important milestone in bilateral relationship” by both sides.
Foreign Office spokesperson, Tasnim Aslam, Monday said the Australian Prime Minister would call on President General Pervez Musharraf and hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. The two sides are expected to sign a number of significant agreements on Agricultural Linkages Programme, Scholarships Award Programme, Natural Gas sale/purchase agreement between Sui Southern, BHP, Government of Balochistan and the Tethyan, Australian company.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz would have a full delegation level talks with his Australian counterpart aimed at further strengthening the multi-faceted relationship between the two countries. The Australian Prime Minister, who would be accompanied by Madame Janette Howard and a 21-member entourage would also visit areas devastated by the earthquake to personally see the magnitude of the disaster and meet Australian personnel involved in relief operations.
Australia despatched a team of 120 military personnel to the devastated Kashmir region for about three months as part of its contribution to the international aid effort. Australia has announced a total contribution of Australian Dollar 14.6 million (US $ 10.6 million) for earthquake relief operations in Pakistan. The aid has been channelled through the WFP, UNESCO, FAO and the Australian NGOs. The visit will provide the two countries useful opportunity to review and strengthen bilateral cooperation in a number of areas and to exchange views on regional and international situation. President Musharraf was the first-ever Head of the State of Pakistan to visit Australia on June 13-16 at the invitation of the Governor General of Australia.
During his visit the two countries signed Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) on Counter-Terrorism and for establishing an agriculture sector linkages programme between Australia and Pakistan and Exchange of Information between the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and Australian Securities and Investments Commission. The two-way trade between the two countries in 2004 reached $660 million. Australian companies have made significant investments in Pakistan’s resources sector with BHP Billiton the largest, holding 38.5% of shares in the Zamzama gas field in Sindh. The visit by the Australian Prime Minister aims at further strengthening bilateral relations in diverse fields.