Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri meets High Commissioner-designate of Australia to Pakistan

Newswire

Canberra: Pakistani High Commissioner to Australia Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri this week met High Commissioner-designate of Australia to Pakistan Neil Hawkins and Dianne Hawkins at Pakistan House.

“Pleased to host High Commissioner-designate of Australia to Pakistan H.E. Neil Hawkins and Mrs Dianne Hawkins at Pakistan House, Canberra. Conveyed them our best wishes for a happy and productive tenure in Pakistan,” the envoy tweeted.

Bilateral relations between Australia and Pakistan have been friendly. Pakistan’s exports to Australia reached their peak in 2011 by reaching US$167 million while imports in the same period reached US$437 million. Both countries vowed to take the bilateral trade to US$1 billion with some concerted efforts at public and private levels.

The two countries in the past have collaborated in talks and actions on joint ventures relating to agriculture, dairy, livestock and mining.

Australia provides scholarships to Pakistani students every year to study at master’s level in Australia.[citation needed] Over 500 scholarships have been given to Pakistani students for postgraduate studies in Australia.

According to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship of the Government of Australia, the 2011 Australian census states that there were 30,221 Pakistan-born people in Australia, an increase of 77.8 per cent from the 2006 Census.