EU trade concessions: Prime minister seeks WTO clearance

European Union ambassador pledges support.

KARACHI: Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani has called upon the European Union (EU) to formally take up the case for passage of trade concessions in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and persuade India to give up its resistance in the upcoming session on January 31.

The prime minister was talking to Ambassador Jan De Kok, the outgoing head of European delegation in Pakistan, who called on him at the Prime Minister’s House.

Gilani exhorted the EU to push forward the free trade agreement (FTA) and the generalised system of preferences (GSP) as it would help Pakistan stabilise its macro-economic framework and create jobs.

He expressed gratitude for EU’s humanitarian contribution of €150 million for flood victims in Pakistan and hoped that the EU will continue to assist Pakistan in the Multiple Indicative Programme.

Ambassador Kok assured the prime minister that the EU will take up the case for passage of trade concessions with all those countries which so far have not come on board at the WTO. He expressed confidence that EU headquarters in Brussels and its missions in Geneva will pursue the matter forcefully.

Kok described Pakistan of today as very different from that of four years ago. He said that Pakistan of today was a bastion of democracy and pluralism.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2011.