SRINAGAR – European Union’s ambassador to Pakistan Jean Francois Cautain onTuesday said the EU, at present, was working on the June 14 report of theUN Human Rights Office that called for an international inquiry intoKashmir situation.

“In diplomacy, we keel the end goal in mind and here, the end goal is tomake sure that situation on both sides of Line of Control (LoC) getsimproved,” the EU ambassador said in his lecture on ‘EU-Pakistan relations:Challenges and Opportunities’ held here at Islamabad Policy ResearchInstitute (IPRI).

The EU ambassador said European Union was engaged with India on a number ofissues related to Kashmir.

On trade, he said European Union (EU) was committed to building a solid andmutually beneficial partnership with Pakistan.

He emphasized that EU was not meting out any preferential treatment toIndia over Pakistan, assuring support to Pakistan the in consolidation ofits path towards long-term economic development and prosperity.

EU Ambassador Jean Francois said the EU would assess its trade relationswith Pakistan by reviewing the report on GSP Plus, based on accurate andalready-defined criteria, and also on the implementation of the 27international conventions linked to GSP Plus.

He said the EU hoped that Pakistan would make the full use of our GSP Pluspreferential agreement for the benefit of its citizens.

He said the EU was focusing on the development of Pakistan’s provincesincluding Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan, however, emphasizedthat the continuity of funding would depend on the targets achieved.

Jean Francois acknowledged the contribution of Pakistan for hosting Afghanrefugees for four decades, however, pointed that the issue of their returnwould persist till stability in the country was achieved.

“If there is no stability in Afghanistan, the people will always try toescape either to Paksitan or Iran,” he said.

He stressed that “one of the keys to a stable Pakistan was to stabilizeAfghanistan”.

To restrict illegal migrants from Pakistan to Europe, he said EU wasputting in place a plan with Pakistan so as to reduce the risk of suchpeople falling into the nexus of human traffickers.

Later, President IPRI Ambassador Abdul Basit presented memento to EUambassador Jean Francois Cautain.