FT: EU's engagement with Pakistan depends on fair polls says Solana
Mr Musharraf held talks in Brussels with Javier Solana, the EU’s high representative for foreign policy, who said he had stressed the EU’s desire that Pakistan should “move forward on a path of reform and the rule of law”. With European countries contributing more than half of the 41,700-strong international force conducting military operations against Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, the EU has a strong interest in seeing a decline of political violence and unrest in neighbouring Pakistan.EU's engagement with Pakistan depends on fair polls says Solana
The level of the European Union's engagement with Pakistan depends on the holding of free, fair and secure elections there next month, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Monday. "Our message is clear. It is that the elections have to be fair, free and secure, which is also very important," Solana said after lunch talks in Brussels with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf. "Our reaction on cooperation and the level of engagement will be in view of the result of the process," he added. He did not give any details as to what that cooperation may entail.The EU is Pakistan’s largest foreign trading partner, with annual trade worth euro 6.25bn, and Mr Musharraf said he had raised the issue of easier access for Pakistan to EU markets. Later on his European trip, Mr Musharraf is due to meet Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, and Gordon Brown, the UK prime minister, as well as to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos.
