Strategic Engagement Plan with EU to be operational in 2020: Qureshi

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday stated that the Strategic Engagement Plan (SEP) signed between Pakistan and the European Union would formally be operationalized in 2020 through multiple scheduled engagements.

According to Foreign Office spokesperson Aisha Farooqui, the foreign minister received Ambassador of the European Union Androulla Kaminara at his office and discussed issued of mutual interests and regional situation. "The foreign minister was pleased to note that the Strategic Engagement Plan (SEP) signed between the two sides in June 2019 would be formally operationalized in 2020 through multiple scheduled engagements," she said.

Farooqui said that the foreign minister appreciated the expanding trade ties between the European Union and Pakistan. The two sides committed to take trade beyond Euros 13 billion achieved in the year 2019, she added. The two sides discussed development cooperation in various areas of mutual interest including rural development, climate change, good governance, and energy.

The EU ambassador also briefed the foreign minister on the projects currently under implementation across Pakistan, she added. Foreign Minister Qureshi shared Pakistan's perspective on the regional situation especially the human rights violations by Indian security forces in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir and the discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) passed by the BJP government in India.

"The two sides welcomed the Afghan peace deal signed between the US and the Taliban, and hoped that an inclusive and comprehensive intra-Afghan dialogue would follow leading to durable peace and stability in Afghanistan and the region," the spokesperson said.

She said that both sides agreed on the need to further capitalize on the positive trajectory of Pakistan-EU relations further strengthening the current political engagements and trade and economic relations.