LAHORE: British Council Chief Executive Sir Martin Davidson on Sunday committed to establish a stronger book and learning environment for the Pakistani youth across the country as he laid the foundation stone of council’s Lahore Library.

Punjab Finance Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman also laid a foundation stone on behalf of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who did not come to attend the ceremony. The plaque carried Mr Sharif’s name.

Sir Martin accepted the Punjab government’s challenge of welcoming some 100,000 visitors to the library and over a million online users. Acknowledging that people of Pakistan were reminding the council to revive the library, the chief executive said council would break out the mental and physical world erected around the British Council in Pakistan. “This purpose-built library will meet the longstanding demand of the people of Lahore by mid 2015,” he added.

Sir Martin said the council had plans of establishing two libraries – one each in Lahore and Karachi – and Lahore took the lead in getting the library back after a span of 13 years.

Stating that the revival of libraries was essential for building communities, he commented that it was necessary to offer opportunities to the youth in the UK and Pakistan to engage. “The British Council libraries will serve as a mean of connecting people,” he added.

Finance Minister Mr Rehman welcomed the revival of the council library in Lahore and hoped that it would become a part of wider network of libraries and provide a wider access.

The minister acknowledged the services of the British Council in imparting training to some 300,000 teachers in English language besides joint projects in research and scholarships.

He said the Punjab government was working on a vision of developing a Knowledge Park in Lahore to impart quality education and empower youth to compete at international level. He also asked the British Council management to ensure 100,000 visitors to the library and give access to one million user online.

Country Director Pakistan of British Council Peter Upton said the council was aiming to have two large libraries in Lahore and Karachi, which would be connected to four partner libraries in major cities. These libraries would be connected to 14 English resource centres.

He said there would be 150,000 library members and all British Council, Lahore, members would automatically become members of all 27 council libraries in South Asia. By 2018, he said, there would be an entire network of libraries and resource centres for British Council in Pakistan.

Mr Upton committed that the council libraries would not be old fashioned but smarter and relevant to the needs of emerging Pakistan. He said the Lahore library would have 15,000 books and best of the best magazines and journals available in the UK and Pakistan. He said the library would be Wi-Fi enabled.

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2014