EU will urge trade breaks to help flood victims

Brussels: The European Union will urge countries to join it in granting Pakistan trade breaks to help the country cope with widespread floods while calling on Islamabad to pursue reforms, an EU official said yesterday.

Representatives of 23 countries, as well as officials from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, will meet in Brussels on Friday to assess what long-term financial help Pakistan needs to recover from the floods.

The assessment, from the Friends of Democratic Pakistan group, will be forwarded to a meeting of donor countries to be held in Islamabad in November.

While offering Pakistan support, and urging other countries to follow its lead with trade breaks and economic incentives, the European Union will call on Pakistan to reform its administration, including by broadening its tax base.

"The aim is to send a strong signal of solidarity to Pakistan," an EU official said. "And it's an opportunity for Pakistan to present a plan for reconstruction, including economic and institutional reforms."

Pakistan says it needs more international support, including greater market access, to help stabilise its economy after devastating floods which have killed more than 1,900 people and affected at least 20 million.

It also maintains that Islamist militants could exploit its economic crisis and any political instability.

The EU, many of whose countries have soldiers fighting Islamist militants in Pakistan's neighbour Afghanistan, announced a scheme last week to suspend tariffs on 75 types of Pakistani-made goods accounting for about 27 per cent of exports to the EU.