Dar meets EU foreign affairs chief Kallas at UN General Assembly

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar met European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York on Monday, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported.

Dar highlighted the importance Pakistan attaches to its partnership with the European Union, particularly in trade and economic cooperation, APP said. He stressed the significance of the GSP+ scheme for Pakistan’s trade relations with the European Union. The agency gave no further details of the discussion. Pakistan has preferential access to the European market under GSP+ and the scheme is central to its trade ties with Brussels.

Kallas is the EU’s top diplomat. The meeting came as foreign ministers and heads of government gathered in New York for the annual high-level week, where bilateral exchanges on the margins routinely cover trade access, regional security and other global developments. The 81st session of the General Assembly opened earlier in September, drawing world leaders to New York for a dense schedule of speeches and side meetings.

Radio Pakistan, in its account of engagements on the sidelines of the assembly, reported that Pakistan and Austria exchanged views on regional and international developments. It did not identify the Pakistani or Austrian officials involved or provide additional details of that exchange.

The two official accounts could not immediately be reconciled from the reports available on Monday: APP described a meeting with the EU foreign policy chief, while Radio Pakistan referred to an exchange with Austria. No joint statement or formal outcome from the Dar-Kallas meeting was released. The reports did not say whether the conversation touched on Pakistan’s relations with individual EU member states.