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The British High Commissioner to Pakistan Thomas Drew spoke at a high achievers’ awards ceremony of the Roots Millennium Schools in Islamabad yesterday. Following is the full text of his speech:

Ladies and gentlemen, can I start by thanking the Roots Millennium Schools, and in particular Faisal Mushtaq, for inviting me here as your guest. It is a great honour. When you are invited as a foreigner to a school, you really are being invited to the heart of a country. Even more so on such an important day for everyone here.

I should probably confess to two things before I speak:

• First, I always find speaking to students more daunting than pretty much any other audience; I am always kept on my toes; there is a great sense of challenge; the questions are more open. Perhaps I should be grateful today that there is no Q and A;

• Second is that I have always had a particular interest in schools and education. And that is not just because the work the British Government does on education in Pakistan: by far the biggest thing we do here is support Pakistan’s education system – and that is right. But it is also because of my background. I am, on my mother’s side at least, from a long line of educationalists.

You don’t, however, have to be an educationalist to know that after 2 hour of ceremony, no student wants to hear an Ambassador drone on for more than a couple of minutes.So I will restrict myself to two things:

• First is to congratulate you. You have all achieved fantastic things.

• I remember well my own graduation ceremony and the sense of relief of getting over the months of hard work and angst. I confess that it took me a good few years to stop having dreams about exams after my university finals.

• The second – and more important point – is the make the most of it. I can now speak as a diplomat. This is a country of fantastic potential. have only been in Pakistan for 6 weeks, but this is coming back after an 8 year gap. I see how it has developed. I feel hugely more optimistic. Admittedly I left Pakistan in 2008 – a difficult year – and a time when the outside world looked at Pakistan mostly in the context of risk.

• Now, risks of course remain, but I and the British Government see also a country of hope and potential. We have the Governor of Punjab here: how many people know that if Punjab were a country, it would be the 11th largest in the world? Karachi is the world’s 6th biggest city: we don’t yet view itn the same way as we do Shanghai or Sao Paolo. This is a country buzzing with potential. Pakistan’s main task is to realise it – and you will find the British Government right behind you.

But in the end, the key to making all this happen – and realising Pakistan’s potential - is you. You are Pakistan’s future. You should grab it.