BRUSSELS, Nov 7: Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri’s visit to Brussels this week has put Pakistan back on the European Union’s crowded foreign policy agenda.

Mr Kasuri’s meetings with key EU officials, including external relations commissioner Chris Patten and security chief Javier Solana as well as members of the European Parliament will help boost a relationship in desperate need of a new lease of life.

Islamabad’s hopes of a significant upgrading of EU-Pakistan relations, including early ratification of a new cooperation pact with the Union will, however, require much more hard work, time and patience.

With India, Russia and China stepping up the drive for closer relations with the Union, Pakistan’s policymakers will continue to face tough competition for EU attention.

The good news is that Mr Kasuri has finally made a start. The foreign minister’s long and detailed exposes of Pakistan’s democratic credentials, relations with India and hopes for stability in Afghanistan certainly focused on some of the main issues of concern casting a shadow over the bloc’s relationship with Islamabad.

His emphasis on Pakistan’s pivotal and moderating role in the Islamic world hit the right note with Europeans seeking to build bridges with Muslim countries.

EU governments are also likely to listen carefully to Mr Kasuri’s warning of an arms race in South Asia following a recent Israeli deal to supply India with a new generation of airborne weapons’ systems.

Finally, by coming to Brussels only a week after his Indian counterpart Yashwant Sinha, Mr Kasuri has successfully managed to present Pakistan’s case on issues such as Kashmir, Afghanistan and weapons of mass destruction to EU policymakers worried about further tensions and instability in the region.

Still, Pakistan faces a continuing uphill struggle in its efforts to improve relations with the Union. For one, despite Mr Kasuri’s comprehensive survey of Pakistan’s political landscape and frank admission that democracy in the country was still in transition, many in the EU remain uneasy about Pakistan’s political direction and the predominant role of the army in the country.

Most European governments support President Musharraf and acknowledge that there can be no overnight success in Pakistan’s traditionally troubled path towards democracy. “What we are talking about is not just elections but about building confidence that Pakistan is moving towards more democracy, not less,” another EU official explained.

However, Islamabad still has some trump cards in its hands in efforts to finally win EU approval of the new cooperation pact. The European Commission and Solana have both said that they favour quick parliamentary ratification of the agreement in order to forge stronger and more binding political ties with Pakistan.

A first EU ministerial troika, led by the Irish Foreign Minister who will take over the EU presidency next January, will visit Islamabad in early February.

Crucially, also Islamabad can argue as Mr Kasuri did in Brussels that the Pakistan National Assembly is unlikely to agree to EU demands that Islamabad sign a so-called readmission accord for the repatriation of Pakistanis found illegally in Europe unless there is a deal on the wider EU-Pakistan agreement.

Changing EU perceptions about Pakistan’s regional role and charges it is helping Islamic militants in both Kashmir and Afghanistan may prove to be equally difficult.

Like the American Administration, EU governments have publicly called on Pakistan to stop cross-border infiltrations into Kashmir. And like Washington, the EU is pressing Islamabad to respond positively to Delhi’s offer of confidence-building measures to improve bilateral relations.

Mr Kasuri made it clear in Brussels that Pakistan had taken all measures to ensure that no activity takes place across the border but warned that no country could completely seal a border. Ending the conflict over Kashmir meant giving the territory’s people hope at the end of the tunnel, he added.

Pakistan had responded favourably to India’s new offer, he told EU officials, but it represented little more than the withdrawal of previous unilateral measures against Pakistan and must lead to meaningful discussions, including over Kashmir.

EU diplomats say they have few illusions that the Indian move is not the daring new initiative that Delhi claims it is. But Messrs Solana and Patten also encouraged Mr Kasuri to look to the future and get a dialogue started with Delhi.

Mr Kasuri may not have managed to completely dispel allegations that Pakistan is helping Taliban fighters to re-enter Afghanistan but EU officials, including Mr Solana, share Islamabad’s concerns about the poor representation of ethnic Pashtuns in the Kabul government, the need to beef up the Afghan national army and the rise in drugs production in the country.

“Our main concern is stability in the region,” an EU diplomat told Dawn after Mr Kasuri’s visit. ‘‘We don’t like what we see: two countries with weapons of mass destruction and next door, an unstable state with warlords and drugs.”

Pakistan’s hopes of obtaining direct EU involvement in ending the Kashmir conflict or easing regional instability are unlikely to be successful, however. EU governments will not want to take sides in the India-Pakistan dispute unless New Delhi agrees to such a move.