The European Union (EU) on Friday hinted at entering into a five-year strategic partnership with Pakistan after pointing out that the current relationship between the two has reached a matured level. This was expressed by EU''s Ambassador to Pakistan Jean François Cautain during a debriefing meeting with the EU''s GSP Plus Review Mission currently visiting Pakistan.
The mission is visiting Pakistan to assess the implementation of 27 UN Conventions covered under the GSP Plus agreement and jointly work out a way forward. Cautain said that EU has entered into a mature relationship with Pakistan and would like to extend the engagement under a five-year strategic plan.
The debriefing meeting was hosted under the auspices of the Treaty Implementation Cell (TIC), Cabinet Division and was chaired by Attorney General for Pakistan, Ashtar Ausaf Ali. A four-member Review Mission, led by Gus Houttuin, Advisor of the European External Actions Services and comprising Dietmar Krissler, Andreas Julin, DG Trade Unit European Commission (EC) and Rudi Delarue, DG Employment EC debriefed the participants with their feedback on human, labour, women and children rights, climate change and governance related conventions.
The debriefing meeting was also attended by representatives from Ministry of Commerce, Foreign Affairs, Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, Climate Change, Human Rights, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Anti-Narcotics Division. Speaking on the occasion, the Attorney General for Pakistan was of the view that Pakistan duly takes GSP Plus program as an incentive and not as a conditionality, as it''s our commitment towards the people of Pakistan to protect their right to life under the constitution of Pakistan.
The delegation representatives debriefed the participants and shared the feedback during the six-day visit to Pakistan. The mission representatives were of the view that they had observed the advance level of understanding about GSP Plus program with Pakistan. "The Government officials at both federal and provincial levels are well aware of the human rights and labour issues. There is a consensus across the board that government of Pakistan should strive for improving the better quality of life of the people of Pakistan," the delegation representatives said.
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