LONDON: Pakistan is looking to British diplomatic help for European Union free trade deal at the next month’s landmark summit with EU leaders, reports The Daily Telegraph.
The paper in its Monday edition said Pakistan is to appeal for free trade access to Europe on the grounds that as a key Western ally on war against terrorism it needs more support for its war-ravaged economy.
Officials said that Pakistan was struggling to cope with the cost of fighting alongside the West against the Taliban while billion pound aid packages “were not having an impact”.
Its diplomats have sought British support as the country targets three key concessions from EU leaders at the meeting in April.
According to the paper, Pakistan hopes to gain a three year deal on duty and quota free exports to the EU, a status that was granted to Pakistan in 2002 but expired in 2005.
The concession would boost the country’s all important cotton industry the largest employer and was estimated to be worth $10 billion a year when it was last extended.
In the long-run Pakistan hopes for a Free Trade Agreement with Europe. Officials want the summit to set a start date for negotiations. Pakistan is the only country in South Asia that does not have free trade agreement with the world’s biggest trading bloc and claims its exporters suffer disproportionately as a result.
Lastly Pakistan officials want the EU to target its aid packages to improve conditions in conflict-scarred areas of the country.
The paper further said the British Secretary for International Development Douglas Alexander acknowledged this month that aid should be better targeted to support reconstruction in the frontier provinces next to Afghanistan where the army has waged an offensive against Taliban infiltration. —APP
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