Pakistan, EU to strengthen cooperation: Islamabad

Islamabad, Nov 9 :  The European Union on Wednesday expressed keen desire to further broaden engagement and strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation with Pakistan, a statement from Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

Pakistan's delegation led by Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua and the EU side headed by Jean-Christophe Belliard, Deputy Secretary General of the European External Action Service, held the fourth session of Pakistan-EU Political Dialogue here on Wednesday.

Acknowledging that Pakistan-EU relationship was multi-dimensional, the EU delegation showed its interest in assisting Pakistan in capacity-building during its socio-economic reforms.

The two sides did an in-depth review of the current status of bilateral relations and discussed ways to upgrade the existing level of cooperation, the statement said.

The progress on adoption of the Strategic Engagement Plan, which was aimed at raising the level of bilateral relationship and broadening engagement, was also reviewed.

Janjua appreciated EU's support to Pakistan, including the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+), and various projects with Pakistani institutions to strengthen the country's democracy, governance, rule of law, energy, trade and investment, human rights and migration.

The EU side recognized Pakistan's achievements in peace and security, its contribution in the fight against terrorism and curbing illegal migration.

Pakistan and the EU hold regular dialogues at various levels, taking it as an opportunity review overall relations, understand each other's views on regional and international issues and discuss different options to further enhance cooperation in diverse spheres, the statement said.

The next Pakistan-EU Political Dialogue would be held in Brussels in 2018.