after 26/12 tragedy in Peshawar. He said we would like to do more in terms of counter-terrorism and sharing intelligence. He said the answers lie within keeping in view culture and values while moving ahead in this respect. He said Pakistan has diversity and opinion against Taliban is dominant.
He said that EU will work in poor areas in the smaller provinces and south Punjab to combat militancy in Pakistan. He supported local elections as the MPs should not indulge in local issues.
The EU envoy said that EU is the largest donor as well as trade partner of Pakistan. He said that a country considering to trade with EU should implement the conditionalities of EU especially those related to human rights. He said that death penalty does not help in ameliorating the ties between EU and Pakistan.
Former ambassador to India Munnawwar Saeed Bhatti said that EU countries had been centre of economic and cultural activities and are like a model for us. He said that Pak-EU relationship is long term, friendly and closer than that with many other countries. EU acted as a model for other countries showing how to make their peoples prosperous.
Mome Saleem said that scholarship scheme was very productive which made students knowledge producers and not knowledge managers. She said that labour standards can only be implemented if we address other issues which are very different from EU and other places.
Malik Hussain from Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that GSP Plus status show the confidence of the world community in Pak exports. He said that death penalty was partially restored to combat the challenge of terrorism threatening the entire world.
He said West should not leave Afghanistan and must remain there to fight the menace of terrorism.
Ambassador Shafqat Kakakhel in his opening remarks said that there had been remarkable evolution in integration in the European region. Shakil Ramay from SDPI said that his organisation wants to contribute to peace and development.