RAWALPINDI, Sept 11: The British High Commission will work for declaring Rawalpindi and one of the cities in the United Kingdom twin cities.

This was stated by British High Commissioner to Pakistan Mark Lyall Grant on Thursday in a meeting with District Nazim Raja Tariq Kiani. Mr Grant remained with Mr Kiani for almost an hour.

The high commissioner said the British government was supportive of the district government system and considered it the best local governance practice in the world.

He said his government was of the opinion that the district government system helped resolve the problems of the common man at the grass roots level.

The system, he said, was in vogue in many developed countries and was a guarantee of development and prosperity.

Mr Grant said the UK had already done a lot of investment in Pakistan and was looking at options to do more in this regard. He said a delegation led by the UK commerce minister would visit Pakistan to discuss the prospects of investment with the Pakistan government and other stakeholders. He also inquired about the law and order situation in Rawalpindi.

The district Nazim informed him that the security situation in the city was good except for few isolated incidents last year. He said the perpetrators had already been caught and were being tried by courts.

Answering another question, Mr Kiani said Pakistan and the UK had longstanding relations and the latter should come forward and exercise its influence to help resolve the contentious issues with India.

Briefing the high commissioner on the district government system, he said it had a sizable representation of women, who were already playing an active role in securing the rights of women.

He cited the examples of computer literacy programme being run by the women councillors. He said 50 computer literacy centres were being set up on the recommendations of the women councillors, who would subsequently run them as well.