Plea for greater access to UK market: Development plan for Kabul sought
By Qudssia Akhlaque
ISLAMABAD, Nov 19: President Pervez Musharraf on Sunday asked British Prime Minister Tony Blair to give Pakistan greater market access to the United Kingdom and advocated a Marshall Plan-like development programme for Afghanistan backed by the international community.
The president made a plea for market access to the UK when the British prime minister asked him how his country could help in advancing his concept of enlightened moderation, sources privy to the meeting at the Governor’s House in Lahore told Dawn.
“Give us greater market access and also ask the European Union to give Pakistan market access,” was the president’s immediate response, the sources said. His premise was that the economic growth the move would spur would create jobs and hence help stem extremism, militancy and terrorism.
Mr Blair was receptive to the call and indicated that he would do his bit to help in this regard, the sources said, adding that he assured Pakistan of Britain’s long-term economic support.
During the 90-minute meeting there was convergence of views on Afghanistan, Indo-Pakistan peace process and the Palestine issue, the sources said.
The president urged Mr Blair to encourage the international community to come forward with a development programme like the Marshall Plan for Afghanistan, particularly for its southern region.
He asserted that this would be the single most important step that the international community could take in the context of Afghanistan. The president’s view was that peace and security in Afghanistan could not be achieved without economic stability, proper rehabilitation and reconstruction.
He underscored that while military means seemed necessary to a certain extent, they were not sufficient.
The sources said the British premier agreed with President Musharraf that the peace dialogue with India must lead to dispute resolution.
On the Palestine question he recognised that it was one issue that affected the hearts and minds of the entire Muslim world and that its resolution would help defeat extremism and terrorism.
At the talks, the president was assisted by foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri, Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan and Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the UK Dr Maleeha Lodhi. The Punjab governor and the president’s military secretary were also present.
The British premier was assisted by his Foreign Policy Advisor Nigel Sheinwald, British High Commissioner Mark Lyall and two other aides.
A summit meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation on Afghanistan will be held in Latvia on Nov 28-29.
The Marshall Plan saw the US ploughing $13 billion into Western Europe in 1948-51 to aid the region’s recovery after the Second World War.
