ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will participate in the Commonwealth leaders’ summit in London today, Friday, state-owned Radio Pakistan reported.

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is a biennial summit meeting of governmental leaders representing all members of the British Commonwealth. Despite the name, the summit can be attended by the head of state instead of the head of government, especially among semi-presidential states.

Last year, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar led the Pakistan delegation at the meeting, held in Rwanda from June 24-25.

“The Prime Minister will participate in the Commonwealth Leaders’ Summit in London on Friday,” Radio Pakistan reported. “He is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with leaders participating in the ceremony and summit.”

Before leaving for London, PM Sharif wrote in a Twitter post that Pakistan and the United Kingdom had a “long history of relations strongly anchored in the dynamic Pakistani-British community.”

During his London visit, PM Sharif will also be attending the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla on Saturday, May 6.

The prime minister’s visit is being closely monitored in Pakistan amid growing political instability, as he is expected to hold political consultations with his elder brother and the founding leader of the ruling PML-N party, Nawaz Sharif, who lives in exile in London.

Sharif, a three-time PM, was found guilty in a corruption reference by an accountability court in Pakistan and sent to prison for 10 years in 2018. He began his prison term but was later released on temporary bail on medical grounds.

Sharif left Pakistan in November 2019 to seek medical treatment in London. He has not returned home since.