Islamabad, April 18, 2017: Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq has said that Pakistan seeks a comprehensive and enduring partnership with European Union to facilitate human and institutional development in the region and beyond. He underlined the need for cementing inter-parliamentary relations to assign substantive meaning to Pak-EU relations. He was speaking to a Parliamentary delegation of European Union led by Mr. David McAllister, Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of EU Parliament who called on him at Parliament House, Islamabad on Tuesday. Ambassador of European Union Mr. Jean Francois Cautain was also present on the occasion.

Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, remarked that Pakistan seeks strong partnership with European Union to strengthen democratic institutions, and forge sustainable patterns of governance at all levels. He highlighted that Pakistan is committed to promote regional peace and security.Highlighting Pakistan’s role in the global war on terrorism, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said that Pakistan is the stage of one of the biggest fight against terrorism and a military operation is in its final stage which had subsequently minimized the terror threats yielding positive results. He said that Pakistan is making efforts to resolve all outstanding disputespeacefully through dialogue. He further said that peaceful resolution of outstanding issues is imperative for regional peace and stability.

The Speaker highlighted that Pakistan’s entire political leadership is determined to fast-track progress on outreach to Europe as part of its regional connectivity endeavors and further outlined that Pakistan’s has resolved to root out terrorism from the region. He also informed that Pakistan is the first Parliament in the world to be completely powered by solar energy and contributes surplus energy to the national grid through net-metering license.

Mr. David McAllister acknowledged Pakistan’s aspiration for regional peace and security and endorsed Ayaz Sadiq’s proposal for expansion and diversification of trade and economic relations. He added that EU Parliament is also keen to partner with Pakistan for uplifting performance of democratic institutions, strengthening rule of law and promoting genuine human development in the region.  He further said that a pro-active role of Parliaments in cementing EU-Pakistan tiesis highly imperative.

The EU parliamentarians praised Pakistan’s continued strides towards democracy and parliamentary supremacy.  They took keen interest in the working of the parliament and sought quarries from the Speaker on the Electoral Reforms, enhanced parliamentary scrutiny of the Executive and its legislative performance.