BRUSSELS, Feb 24: Last week's visit to Islamabad by a team of European Union foreign ministers has prompted a long-overdue review of the bloc's relations with Pakistan but EU governments remain divided and uncertain over how best to develop ties with the country.

Diplomats say Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen, who led the EU delegation to Pakistan, has given his colleagues a fairly upbeat report of his contacts in Islamabad, pointing specifically to the country's 'genuine openness' to discuss difficult issues.

But Mr Cowen also told Dawn late on Tuesday that reports of Pakistan's nuclear sales to Iran, Libya and North Korea represented a "very serious international problem" which was a source of worry to the EU.

"Certainly we would like to see compliance criteria that would give confidence to the international community that this matter is under control," he underlined, adding: "Every country has to take up that responsibility."

Pakistan clearly had a different position on signing up to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty than the EU, Mr Cowen said, adding, however, that he had put the EU view to the Pakistani authorities "very strongly". Diplomats said that the European Union team had insisted that the adoption of nuclear export control strategies were 'crucial'.

Diplomats said the harshest words on Pakistan's nuclear stance at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels this week came from Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moller who said worries over Pakistan's nuclear programme - and the fact that Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was probably still hiding in the country's mountains - were giving him sleepless nights.

Mr Cowen's message to EU capitals was a more constructive one, however, with the focus on the need to engage Pakistan more regularly on nuclear proliferation and counter-terrorism.

Concern at Pakistan's nuclear programme could become an additional obstacle in Islamabad's hopes of securing early European Parliament ratification of the cooperation agreement it signed with the EU in 2001.

The EU Parliament has traditionally taken an even tougher line on curbing weapons of mass destruction than the bloc's often more pragmatic governments. Doubts also continue to linger in Brussels and other EU capitals about Pakistan's human rights performance and democratic credentials.

The EU delegation pointed to a long list of human rights concerns harboured by Europeans over issues like cruel police treatment, the Hudood ordinance, the blasphemy law and the treatment of women. The case of the arrest of ARD leader Javed Hashmi was also raised. However, the good news appears to be that Pakistan's message that the Union must take a more flexible stance on its many trade problems seems to have got across to important EU capitals.

While this will not prevent EU leaders from slapping a 13.1 per cent anti-dumping duty, probably this week, on exports of Pakistani bed linen, diplomats say many EU governments as well as officials in the European Commission are aware that Islamabad needs help in safeguarding its share of textile and other exports to the EU after the elimination of textile quotas next year.