Web Desk (LTN NEWS): Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif talked about trade with the European Union on Thursday and said that he hoped the GSP Plus scheme, which is a special trade and investment policy that is set to end next year, would be extended past 2023.
The prime minister said these things during a meeting at the Prime Minister House with Dr. Riina Kionka, the new envoy of the European Union to Pakistan.
“Since the current GSP Plus scheme is good for both Pakistan and the EU, trade ties between the two should be strengthened. Pakistan will still be a part of the deal after 2023, according to a statement made by the prime minister after the meeting. He said that it was important for the relationship between Pakistan and the European Union to keep having high-level talks.
“Pakistan puts a lot of value on its ties with the EU and the close, cooperative bilateral ties it has had with EU member states for a long time,” he said.
The prime minister talked about his recent phone calls with the president of the EU Council, Charles Michel, and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. He said that he was confident that the upcoming visits to Pakistan by EU parliamentary delegations and the next rounds of political and security dialogues under the EU-Pakistan Strategic Engagement Plan would lead to deeper cooperation between the two countries.
When talking about Afghanistan, PM Sharif stressed how important it was for the country to be peaceful and stable. He also talked about Pakistan’s “unprecedented level of cooperation” with the rest of the world when it came to Afghanistan, especially since the Taliban took over Kabul in August of last year.
During her time in Islamabad, Dr. Kionka said she was committed to working to make EU-Pakistan relations even stronger.
On August 11, National Minorities Day, Shehbaz Sharif said that the coalition government was still committed to improving the lives and well-being of minorities and making sure they were fully included in national life and development.
He said that the government was committed to these responsibilities and that it “officially celebrates the 11th of August to reaffirm its commitment to achieving the noble goal of building a society that includes everyone.” This was in line with what Quaid-i-Azam had in mind.
The Prime Minister said that the government was working to “mainstream minorities in the country by giving them a fair chance.”
In his message for the National Day of Minorities, he said, “The idea is to make it possible and easy for everyone, especially our non-Muslim citizens, to take a full part in national life.”
He also talked about other ways to help poor people from religious minorities get ahead.
