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ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday held a meeting with outgoing European Union (EU) Ambassador Riina Kionka and discussed with her the EU's Generalized Scheme of Preference Plus (GSP+) framework and "domestic political developments," Sharif's office said.

The scheme grants beneficiary countries’ exports duty-free access to the European market in exchange for voluntarily agreeing to implement 27 international core conventions, including those on human and civil rights. Sharif's office did not elaborate on which political developments they discussed, but the development comes after the announcement of an anti-government protest movement by jailed former premier Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.

The PTI recently announced the protest drive to secure the release of Khan, who has been in jail for nearly two years on a slew of charges. The party has staged several protests in recent years demanding an audit of Feb. 2024 general election along with Khan’s release, saying the polls had been rigged. Pakistani authorities deny the allegations and accuse the PTI of attempting to disrupt its efforts to achieve sustainable economic growth.

The EU last year raised also concerns over the sentencing of PTI activists by Pakistani military courts over attacks on government and military installations in May 2023, noting that Islamabad had agreed to effectively implement 27 core conventions, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to continue benefitting from the GSP+ scheme.

"The Prime Minister underscored the significance of EU as one of Pakistan’s largest trading partners and reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to the GSP Plus scheme, which had proved to be mutually beneficial for both sides," Sharif's office said.

The EU is one of Pakistan’s most important trading partners, accounting for 12.4% of Pakistan’s total trade in 2024, while Pakistan was the EU’s 48th largest trading partner in goods, accounting for 0.2% of EU trade, according to official EU data.

Bilateral trade in goods between the EU and Pakistan represented €12 billion in 2024 (with a deficit for the EU of €4.6 billion).
During the meeting, Ambassador Kionka thanked PM Sharif for the support she had received during her stay in Pakistan.

"The EU was committed to strengthening its cooperation with Pakistan," she was quoted as saying.

PM Sharif conveyed his good wishes for EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and said that he looked forward to meeting her at a convenient opportunity in the coming days.