Islamabad (AsiaNews) – Newly-elected Prime Minister, Shaukat Aziz, said he will target agriculture, social services, and small and medium size enterprises for priority consideration during his mandate. "About 60 percent of the Pakistani population depends on agriculture," he said, "therefore, the government needs to put special emphasis on this sector. Our target is 8 percent agricultural growth."

Shaukat Aziz, a former Finance minister, was elected by the National Assembly on August 27. He was the candidate for the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) and took over from Mir Zafar Ullah Khan Jamali who had resigned on June 26.

Despite protests from the opposition, Aziz was elected with 191 votes out of 342. His election was in fact not without controversy. The 80 members for the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) and the 67 from the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) boycotted the vote after the outgoing government refused to allow their candidate to stand for the vote. Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, ARD president and Aziz's rival for the Prime Minister's job, is detained in Adiala prison near Rawalpindi, accused of sedition and waiting to appear before the Supreme Court.

The new Prime Minister stated that he will follow the path laid down by Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf and PML's leader, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain "to provide good governance to the people".

Mr Aziz spent much of yesterday meeting foreign diplomats, services chiefs, senior bureaucrats and parliamentarians. He also presented his main policy guidelines.

In meeting members of the National Assembly Aziz called on district administrators to cooperate with the central government to improve social and health services. He stressed that "[e]fforts will also be made to ensure provision of clean drinking water in rural areas. This will have direct health benefits."

Following congratulations from India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Aziz said that he was looking forward "to collaborate with India as soon as possible to build good relations and solve outstanding issues such as Jammu and Kashmir".

Shaukat Aziz is Pakistan's third prime minister in less than two years, and the second in less than two months. The new cabinet is expected to be sworn in tomorrow. (QF)