EU Parliament’s South Asia delegation visits Pak Parliament

ISLAMABAD: A 10-member European Parliament’s delegation for South Asia, headed by Nicola Procaccini, Member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, called on Senate Deputy Chairman Mirza Muhammad Afridi at the Parliament House on Wednesday.

The deputy chairman Senate welcomed the EU delegation to the Parliament House and emphasised the role of Parliamentary exchanges in reinforcing the bilateral relations and opening new vistas of cooperation.

Among the topics discussed in the meeting, were the institutional cooperation between Pakistan and the EU, frequent exchange of delegations and further enhancing trade and economic ties.

Senate Deputy Chairman Mirza Muhammad Afridi thanked the European Union for its support to the prime minister’s initiative of debt relief for the developing countries. We strongly believe that a coordinated approach is the only way to counter the Covid-19 pandemic, he added.

While mentioning that the European Union has been the largest trade and investment partner of Pakistan, he said that the GSP plus status has played an important role in expansion of trade. He said that the volume of Pakistan–EU trade in the financial year 2020 was Euro 9.3 billion, with Pakistan’s exports amounting to Euro 5.5 billion and imports to Euro 3.8 billion.

The deputy chairman Senate emphasised the need for the steps to further enhance trade and economic cooperation, adding that there are vast opportunities for investment in Pakistan.

He said that Pakistan considers peace and development important for rapidly changing situation in the region. He further said that promoting peace is essential for socio-economic development. Prime Minister Imran Khan, in 2018, had offered that if India takes one step forward for peace, Pakistan will take two, he added.

He also said that India’s illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019 in the IIOJK were a huge setback to our efforts of regional peace, emphasising that India must revisit its actions of August 5, 2019 and should not seek to effect demographic change in the IIOJK.

He said that Pakistan has always raised a strong voice for women empowerment, gender equality and promotion and protection of women rights, adding that the Pakistani women are actively involved in all spheres of life, including politics, civil service, military and entrepreneurship with 10 percent quota fixed in the civil service for women and 33 percent women quota in Senate, National Assembly and provincial assemblies in addition to regular seats.

During the meeting, the both sides termed the mutual cooperation between Pakistan and the European Union useful and called for further promotion of trade and economic cooperation in various spheres of life.

The EU delegation appreciated the effective coordination between the Parliament of Pakistan and the European Union and expressed the hope that the relations would be further strengthened with the passage of time.