islamabad
\nEuropean Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed their mutual interest in ramping up ties as Pakistan\u2019s role for peace between the United States and Iran came in for praise from the bloc.
\nA statement from the Prime Minister\u2019s Office said she met the premier today at the PM House.
\n\u201cThe prime minister welcomed the EU high representative and stated that Pakistan was keen to further strengthen the multifaceted partnership between Pakistan and the European Union,\u201d it said.
\nIt stated that Kallas also appreciated the role played by Pakistan for regional peace and conveyed the EU\u2019s \u201cstrong interest in deepening strategic engagement\u201d with Pakistan.
\nThe statement said PM Shehbaz expressed satisfaction at the 8th round of the EU-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue and reaffirmed Pakistan\u2019s commitment to enhancing cooperation with the EU in key areas, including trade and investment, climate change, security, migration, sustainable development, and connectivity.
\n\u201cIn this regard, the prime minister highlighted the important role of GSP+ in ensuring stronger trade ties between Pakistan and the EU. Discussions also focused on the regional and international situation.
\n\u201cThe prime minister thanked the EU leadership for its strong support for Pakistan\u2019s peace efforts in the Gulf region. He said that Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir were playing a crucial role in these efforts. He laid special emphasis on the need for the international community, including the EU to work collectively to ensure lasting peace in the region,\u201d the PMO said.
\nPM Shehbaz also shared Pakistan\u2019s perspective on the regional situation in South Asia, as well as on Afghanistan, with Kallas. He further conveyed his best wishes to EU Council President Antonio Costa as well as to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and reiterated his cordial invitations to both leaders to visit Pakistan soon.<\/p>\n
Pakistan a \u2018major regional power\u2019
\nShe earlier called for deeper and more forward-looking relations with Pakistan, describing Islamabad as a key regional partner during a press briefing following the 8th Pakistan\u2013EU Strategic Dialogue.
\nSpeaking alongside Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar at a press briefing, Kallas said her visit came at an important moment amid global and regional changes, noting that both sides had reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening cooperation.
\nShe said, \u201cPakistan is a major regional power and an important partner for the European Union,\u201d adding that the strategic dialogue had underlined a shared resolve to deepen ties further.
\nKallas highlighted that the EU and Pakistan had seen \u201cstrong momentum\u201d in trade relations, stressing that the EU remains Pakistan\u2019s largest export destination, \u201clarger than China and the US combined.\u201d
\nShe also noted Pakistan\u2019s position as the world\u2019s leading beneficiary of the EU\u2019s GSP+ scheme, while emphasising that continued access depends on progress in implementing international conventions, including governance standards, environmental protection, and labour and human rights commitments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
islamabad European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed their mutual interest in ramping up ties as Pakistan\u2019s role for peace between the United States and Iran came in for praise from the bloc. A statement from the Prime Minister\u2019s Office said she met the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":98426,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98418"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98435,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98418\/revisions\/98435"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}