The new investments were announced as Pakistan and Nigeria joined 53 nations in London for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), with the benefits of intra-Commonwealth trade high on the agenda.

New investment

Global consumer brand Unilever will invest £86 million in new manufacturing capacity at its 4 factories in Pakistan. Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell will also invest up to £13 million by 2020 in around 100 new fuelling stations along the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) route. This will allow trucks carrying goods between the countries to refuel, driving increased trade.

Meanwhile Dorset-based renewable energy firm Low Energy Designs Limited UK is launching ‘Light up Lagos’, a £38 million investment to deliver 40,000 low energy LED streetlights in the Nigerian capital over the next 4 years.

The lights will improve safety and help tackle pollution and crime in Africa’s largest city, and create over 500 local jobs.

Trade Minister Greg Hands said:

As the Prime Minister has made clear, the Commonwealth has a unique opportunity to boost its trade links and drive prosperity and growth among its members. Pakistan and Nigeria are prime examples of this, with their growing trade with the UK and overseas investment powering economic growth.

Unilever, Shell, and Low Energy Designs are showing what UK companies can achieve in the Commonwealth’s growing market of 2.3 billion customers, and my department is ready to help.

Ministers commit to trade

UK Trade Minister Greg Hands met with Pakistan’s Minister of Commerce, Muhammad Pervaiz Malik, and opened the London Stock Exchange this morning with Nigeria’s Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, Dr Okechukwu Enelamah.

It follows Hands’ visit to Pakistan in September last year where the UK and Pakistan confirmed their ambition to increase bilateral trade. The UK also confirmed its intention to maintain the preferential access Pakistan receives to UK markets to support Pakistan’s economic growth after the UK leaves the EU.

The UK is Pakistan’s biggest trade partner in the EU, with UK exports up over 13% in 2016, and 2% of all Britons have their roots in the country.

UK companies have already invested £5 billion in Nigeria, with bilateral annual trade worth £3.4 billion and Nigerian companies worth over £4.5 billion are already listed on the London Stock Exchange.

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A man who killed a highways worker and left another paralysed after speeding while texting has had his sentence increased after the Solicitor General, Robert Buckland QC MP, referred it for being too low.

Peter Morrison, a 37 year old football agent, hit and killed Adam Gibb, 51, and left his colleague Paul Holroyd, now 53, paralysed from the chest down after losing control of his Mercedes on the M6 in Cumbria.

Morrison had been texting behind the wheel and had been driving at an average speed of 81 mph, when the suggested speed limit was 50 mph, in the period before the collision. His car swerved across three lanes of the carriageway and mounted the crash barrier before rebounding off a rock and hitting the victims.

The two Highways England Officers were overseeing the recovery of vehicles which had crashed earlier in the atrocious weather conditions with strong winds, heavy rain and fog patches causing poor visibility and leaving surface water on some areas of the carriageway.

Morrison had sent a text message 96 seconds before the collision. The last message he received was 45 seconds before it.

Mr Gibb is survived by his wife and young son, who was 15 years old and due to sit his GCSEs at the time. Mr Holroyd suffers long-term effects because of the injuries inflicted by Mr Morrison’s actions.

Morrison pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving but was found guilty by a jury of causing death and serious injury by dangerous driving. He was sentenced to a total of 7 years’ imprisonment at Liverpool Crown Court in January.

The Court of Appeal has today increased his sentence to 9 years in prison.

Speaking after the hearing, the Solicitor General said:

“Morrison’s deliberate decision to be distracted and drive at excessive speeds in extremely hazardous weather conditions had devastating consequences for two families.

“I am pleased that the Court of Appeal has agreed with me and increased the sentence today.”

Scientific advisers from across the Commonwealth will establish a knowledge exchange network to look at some of the global challenges we face such as climate change, food security and the state of the oceans.

The group was established following the inaugural meeting of chief scientific advisers and equivalents from across the Commonwealth chaired by Dr Patrick Vallance, Government Chief Scientific Adviser and Sir Peter Gluckman, Chief Science Adviser to the Prime Minister of New Zealand. The meeting was held at the Royal Society.

The science leaders met to discuss the role of science and technology in achieving a more secure, sustainable and prosperous future. They discussed how science and technology can benefit Commonwealth countries, both individually and collectively, focusing on 2 main areas:

• preparing for and responding to emergencies; and
• meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Dr Patrick Vallance said:

This is an important start to a new Commonwealth science collaboration. The Commonwealth represents a great opportunity for international collaboration, sharing data and science expertise to solve universal challenges such as climate change, food security, the state of the oceans, supporting private sector innovation and managing the impacts of disruptive technologies. These are challenges for which no country can plausibly claim to have all the answers.

Sir Peter Gluckman said

Science, technology and innovation are primary drivers of progress. The Commonwealth presents an obvious forum in which they can and should serve that purpose. Much can be achieved through identifying key knowledge gaps, synthesising and sharing evidence, and by strengthening the link between available evidence and policy.

Science Minister Sam Gyimah said:

Climate change, pollution, food security, healthcare, and clean energy are just some of the world’s biggest challenges. These issues affect everyone and the impact is already being felt, even here in the UK. While the government’s ambitious Industrial Strategy and Grand Challenges are already addressing these global challenges, collaboration is essential to provide effective results.

Across the Commonwealth, the brightest and best talent are conducting incredible research that has the potential to change our world forever. It is essential that we come together and share our expertise and knowledge to speed up the development of innovative solutions, saving our planet and improving everyone’s lives.

The network will foster greater cooperation between Commonwealth science academies and other science advice mechanisms. Specifically, it will seek to:

• promote information exchange covering scientific and technology-based solutions to the SDGs as they affect Commonwealth countries
• enhance cooperation on science related to risk management and emergency response
• develop a strategy for integrating locally-derived data across the Commonwealth to understand and stimulate innovative solutions to such issues as coastal erosion, water quality and food waste
• explore approaches to data governance
• promote beneficial collaboration using major science infrastructure where it can support research around the SDGs
• consider what further mechanisms might strengthen the role of science and innovation in the Commonwealth

A report summarising the projects, their impact and the key lessons learnt will be presented to leaders at the Commonwealth summit in 2020.

1. The Commonwealth forms a significant part of the global scientific community. It is home to 12% of the world’s researchers and accounts for around 10% of global research and development expenditure.

2. The Government Office for Science advises the Prime Minister and members of the Cabinet on all matters related to science and technology ensuring that government policies and decisions are informed by the best scientific evidence and strategic long-term thinking.

The Prime Minister called President Xi of China earlier today.

They agreed the Prime Minister’s visit to China in January had been a great success, reinvigorating our commitment to a “Golden Era” of UK-China relations and a deeper strategic partnership.

They discussed the appalling chemical weapons attack in Douma. The Prime Minister explained our strikes had been proportionate, legal and responsible, and aimed at alleviating humanitarian suffering by degrading the Syrian regime’s chemical weapons capability and deterring their willingness to use them in the future.

The Prime Minister set out that Russia’s blocking of diplomatic action underlined the importance of the international community working together to re-establish an independent mechanism that attributes responsibility to the perpetrators of attacks such as the one in Douma.

The Prime Minister noted that the use of a nerve agent against Yulia and Sergei Skripal in Salisbury was a grave attack on the sovereign territory of the UK, and the first use of nerve agents on European soil since the Second World War. They agreed that the use of chemical weapons by anyone, anywhere, for any purposes was unacceptable.

The Prime Minister reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to free and fair trade, open markets and upholding and strengthening the multilateral global trading regime.

The leaders welcomed progress on deepening the UK-China trade relationship. They agreed that the UK and China would continue to work together to identify how best we can cooperate on the Belt and Road initiative across the region and ensure it meets international standards.

The Prime Minister also noted the need to recognise and respect the international law of the sea, in the context of adherence to the wider rules-based international system.