Mandelson meets Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz
02 Feb '07
1 min read
EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has met with Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. The Prime Minister and the Commissioner discussed global trade issues, including progress in the Doha WTO trade talks.
They discussed a range of bilateral trade issues, and focussed on continuing to strengthen the growing trade ties between Pakistan and the EU.
Following the meeting Commissioner Mandelson said: "The EU is committed to building closer trading ties with Pakistan. It works closely with Pakistan to improve access to the Pakistani market for EU businesses and to facilitate Pakistani trade with the European Union. In the longer term I am very open to assessing new approaches for the EU and Pakistan that reflect this strengthening relationship".
Pakistan benefits from preferential access to the EU market under the European Union's Generalised System of Preferences, which is the world's widest and most generous. It ensures wide preferential access to the EU market for Pakistan for a huge range of key goods.
EU-Pakistan trade was worth about 7 billion euros in 2005. About 0.4% of EU exports go to Pakistan. However, that trade is growing fast - at about 30% a year.
marketing@alchempro.com
