Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar shakes hands with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton prior to a meeting in Islamabad yesterday
Agencies/Islamabad

The European Union (EU) foreign policy chief yesterday began talks with Pakistan to promote economic and political ties.
Catherine Ashton and Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar expressed optimism about future relations.
“We are close to implementing the preferential trade agreement and Pakistani products will get Generalised System of Preferences Plus status into the EU markets,” she said.
Khar said the EU was Pakistan’s biggest trading partner with more than 8.3bn euros of bilateral trade.
Ashton said EU was aware of challenges faced by Pakistan and was working for long-term and durable ties.
Ashton said her Pakistan visit was an “expression of the EU’s support for the consolidation of democracy” in the country.
Her visit comes as Pakistan is facing isolation because of conflict with Nato over the reopening of supply routes to Afghanistan.
Ashton will also meet Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, military operations chief Lieutenant General Waheed Arshad, parliamentary opposition leaders and, in a visit to second city Lahore, Punjab province Governor Sardar Mohamed Latif Khan Khosa.
Ties between Pakistan and western nations, particularly the US, have been strained since Islamabad blocked vital supply routes to Nato convoys travelling from Pakistani ports to the Afghanistan border.
Ashton also said the EU wanted “to capitalise on the momentum in our relationship created by the special trade measures we adopted following the 2010 floods, and the significant development and humanitarian assistance we have provided to the country.”
In a ground-breaking move in February, the World Trade Organisation approved a waiver allowing 75 Pakistani products duty-free access to European Union markets for two years to help textile exports after devastating floods in 2010.
The EU is Pakistan’s largest trading partner, receiving almost 30% of its exports.
Pakistan’s trade with the EU consists mainly of textiles, which account for more than 70% of its exports to European countries.
Brussels last month announced a further 20mn euros in aid to victims of Pakistan’s 2011 monsoon floods.