Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-10-25-Speech-3-358"
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"en.20061025.26.3-358"2
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"Madam President, the Council agrees that trade could have major significance in bringing India and Pakistan closer together.
In its conclusions in February 2004 the Council repeated that it supported efforts to promote regional cooperation within the framework of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and especially the agreement on establishing a free trade zone in South Asia by the year 2006. The EU is pleased with the recently signed South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA), but understands that some Member States of SAARC still have unresolved bilateral issues. Resolving these would give the Member States of the Association the opportunity to derive full benefit from the agreements they are signatories to.
Generally speaking, the EU still supports all the efforts being made to facilitate trade in multilateral contexts as they are an important way to strengthen trade and investment links between the different countries.
The decision by the SAARC ministerial council to confer on the EU the role of observer is a splendid opportunity to develop cooperation between SAARC and the EU. Cooperation between the two was discussed at the Seventh EU-India Summit in Helsinki on 13 October.
The EU wants to improve the practical support it gives to SAARC. The Commission has already drafted a programme on economic cooperation with SAARC. The programme covers facilitation of trade, standards and cooperation between new businesses. The aim is to promote trade within the region by aiding the implementation of SAFTA, and this, it is hoped, will provide the impetus for improved political relations in the region. The SAARC Secretariat and the Member States of the EU intend to adopt this programme in the near future.
The Union is encouraging broad dialogue between India and Pakistan and hopes that trading and other relations will develop favourably, because that would promote stability in the whole region. We welcome the fact that there have been moves to increase trust between India and Pakistan recently, as a result of which freer contacts between people, direct bus and train connections and visits by members of parliament and sports teams have become possible.
The Indian and Pakistani presidents met in Havana this September. Relations between the two countries were discussed at general level at a summit meeting held on 13 October."@en1
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