ISLAMABAD: Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan, Minister of State for Commerce and Textile Industry visited Bucharest, Romania, to mobilise support of Romanian parliamentarians in the European Parliament for their support for Pakistan’s candidature of GSP Plus status in the European Union.
The other objective of the visit was to kick start the bilateral trade and investment relations between the two countries, says a statement issued by the Ministry of Commerce.
During his meeting with Romanian Minister of Economy, Dastgir stressed the importance of GSP Plus status for Pakistan and urged his government’s support for Pakistan in the remaining phases of the approval of GSP Plus scheme, the statement said.
The Romanian minister assured the visiting Pakistan minister of the full support of the Romanian government for Pakistan’s candidature for GSP Plus and promised that the Romanian government would stay positively engaged with the remaining stages of approval in the European Parliament.
Dastgir particularly invited the Romanian companies to explore the possibilities of collaboration with Pakistani companies in the sectors of energy, textiles and mining.
The Romanian minister thanked the Pakistani minister and expressed the hope that a new chapter in the bilateral trade and investment relations of the two countries would begin.
In a meeting with the Foreign Minister of Romania Titus Corlatean, the Minister of State for Commerce and Textile urged the Romanian minister to play a proactive part in helping Pakistan get GSP Plus in EU and take the lead in translating the traditional friendly relations between the two countries into strong economic relationship.
Romanian minister assured full support of the Romanian government for Pakistan’s GSP Plus candidature and hoped that this would create more opportunities for the businessmen of both the countries to develop mutually beneficial trade and investment relations, particularly in textiles, natural resources and agriculture.
Dastgir met President of the Romanian Parliamentary Friendship Group for Pakistan MP Dan Cristian Popescu. Pakistani minister appreciated the active role being played by the Friendship Group in promoting bilateral relations and wished more success to the ongoing initiatives.
The Minister of State thanked MP Dan Cristian Popescu for his efforts to persuade Romanian members of European Parliament for supporting Pakistan creating an opportunity of partnership between the two countries.
Earlier MP Dan Cristian Popescu welcomed the Pakistani minister and shared with him numerous initiatives taken by his group to bring both the countries together. He expressed his desire and hope that Pakistan would get the GSP Plus status with the collective efforts under way.
