Assalam-o-Alaikum-Warahmat-ULLAH ALL,
DAWN News: Pakistan-EU summit faces protocol hurdle
Thursday, 18 Feb, 2010
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EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is believed to have told the Pakistan Foreign Minister that while Messrs Van Rompuy and Barroso would be delighted to meet Mr Gilani at any time, talks with the PM could not be termed a ‘summit’. – Photo by Reuters.
BRUSSELS: An unexpected “protocol mismatch” risks endangering the planned Pakistan-European Union summit in April, following suggestions by Islamabad that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani rather than President Asif Ali Zardari would attend the meeting.
EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who will speak on behalf of the 27-nation bloc at the meeting on April 21, are adamant that Mr Zardari, as president, should represent Pakistan at the summit. “We expect the dialogue with Pakistan in April to be held at the highest level,” an EU diplomat told Dawn. “At the moment, this means President Zardari.”
The message was conveyed to Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi in his meeting with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Feb 16.
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Two years will have passed by tomorrow. Pakistan Govt. is still undecided about protocol.
How can we expect output from this Govt. when it can't even resolve a matter of protocol ?