News
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Spain backs Pak bid for more access to EU markets
* Pak, Spanish PMs express joint commitment to fighting terror as they sign a broad bilateral agreement aimed at enhancing cooperation on security, trade and other issues
By Saeed Minhas
MADRID: Extending complete support to Pakistan’s bid for increased access to European Union markets, Spain on Wednesday vowed to enhance bilateral ties in all spheres.
The two countries expressed their joint commitment to fighting terrorism as they signed a broad bilateral agreement aimed at enhancing cooperation on security, trade and other issues.
The deal came during a meeting between Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, who is on a highest level visit to Spain since then-president Pervez Musharraf in 2007.
“The commitment by both governments in the fight against terrorism is a commitment to collaborate,” Zapatero, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU, told a joint news conference after the talks.
“I am very grateful to Pakistan and thank you for the efforts you have made to fight against radicalism and terrorism in the region... I would like you to know that you can count on Spain for the stability of Pakistan,” he said.
Gilani noted that Spain and Pakistan “have both been victims of terrorism, and both countries are cooperating to root out this menace”.
“You can count on the EU and Spain for Pakistan’s stability,” The Spanish prime minister said, adding, “Pakistan is the key country for stability in Afghanistan and to help cut down radical terrorism.”
Prime Minister Gilani said Pakistan desired a strong multifaceted relationship with the EU and provision of preferential market access to the EU, as it would help stabilise Pakistan’s economy, which had suffered enormously as a result of the country’s role as a frontline state against terrorism.
Earlier, the two leaders witnessed the inking of a Framework of Cooperation on Developing Comprehensive Partnership and Avoidance of Double Taxation pact.
Gilani said by signing the Framework of Cooperation on Developing Comprehensive Partnership the two sides had ushered in a new era of fortifying cooperative ties between the two countries.
He said the framework spanned diverse fields form trade and finance to science and technology, from defence and security to cultural and people-to-people contacts.
They also signed a deal to avoid double taxation, which Zapatero said “opens up a whole array of economic relations in the future.”
Gilani is to continue from Madrid to Brussels for an EU-Pakistan summit and a visit to NATO headquarters.Pakistan has suffered from increasing attacks by terrorists in recent years as it fights a home-grown Taliban insurgency. The Spanish government announced in February it was sending 511 more troops to Afghanistan, boosting its contingent with NATO-led forces fighting Taliban insurgents to nearly 1,600.
Spain suffered its worst ever terror attack on March 11, 2004 when bombs exploded on packed commuter trains in a Madrid suburb, killing 191 people and wounding 1,841 others.
In December a Spanish court convicted ten men from Pakistan and one from India in connection with a plot to stage suicide attacks on the Barcelona metro in 2008, which it said “could have caused many casualties”.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk