Islamabad, March 29, (dpa/GNA) – Officials in Islamabad on Wednesday, praised a move by the European Union to remove Pakistan from the list of the countries posing financial threats to its members, vowing to seize the opportunity to enhance trade with the bloc.
The 27-nation bloc put Pakistan on the list of high-risk third countries in 2018, the same year the South Asian nation was slapped with sanctions for failing to control money laundering and terrorism financing.
The EU decision, which was first announced in December, came after the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an inter-governmental global body on terrorism financing, also removed Pakistan from its grey list after recognizing Islamabad had improved controls.
The removal from the list means individuals and companies from Pakistan dealing with their EU counterparts would no longer be subjected to the enhanced scrutiny.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wrote that “de-listing of Pakistan from EU’s updated list of high-risk third countries is a major development which will facilitate our businesses, individuals and entities.”
“This is definitely good news for Pakistan especially in the face of current economic crisis,” said Irfan Shehzad, head of Eurasian Century Institute think-tank in Islamabad.
The EU is the second largest importer of Pakistani products including garments, leather footballs, according to the official statistics by the country’s Trade Ministry.
Pakistan, a nuclear armed Muslim nation with more than 220 million population, is facing multiple economic crises due to dwindling exports and mounting debt.
GNA