KARACHI, June 8: A member of the European Commission to Pakistan has said that Iran’s positive response to the European Union’s proposals for resolving the nuclear issue has raised the hope for a negotiated settlement.

Emmanuel Mersch, the First Counsellor (Finance) of the EU delegation, was talking to newsmen after inaugurating the European Union Corner, in the library of the Area Study Centre for Europe, University of Karachi, on Thursday. KU Vice-Chancellor Prof Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui presided over the ceremony.

He said that dialogue was the correct way to sort out the nuclear proliferation issue with Tehran. He was, nevertheless, sceptic when asked why the EU was not pursuing with the same vigour the issue of proliferation in the case of other countries.

With regard to the EU’s assistance to Pakistan, he said that the community would provide 39 million Euros in grant, to be equally matched by the government of Pakistan, for starting primary schools in every district of Sindh.

Earlier, speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the European Union Corner, the EU representative said that the purpose of establishing this Corner was to improve the visibility of EU presence in Pakistan by targeting the future policymakers of the country.

It was aimed at enhancing the ASCE’s capacity to promptly highlight the developments in EU in various fields and to help students and researchers keep themselves abreast of the recent EU activities.

Mr Mersch pointed out that the success of the EU Corner would be replicated at the libraries of the Hamdard University (Karachi), Punjab University (Lahore), Lahore University of Management Science and the NWFP University (Peshawar).

He told the audience that the delegation would continue its efforts to help the ASCE library to increase its collections and would make efforts to encourage the member states’ embassies and their cultural centres to donate their publications to the EU Corner.

On behalf of the delegation, he donated 25 English language books on EU-related subjects and two computers for the EU Corner.

Referring to the differing vote on the proposed EU constitution by the member states, he believed it was due to the failure of the grouping to explain to the people in advance. The people were not informed properly, he maintained, especially when unemployment in Europe was on the rise.

Prof Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui described the EU as ‘a unique entity’ which had no counterpart in the contemporary world.

He said that the delegation of the European Commission in Islamabad was not only actively representing the EU but was also playing an important role in promoting economic and political relations with Pakistan which were of immense strategic importance in the present international scenario.

Prof Siddiqui referred to the third generation cooperation agreement between Pakistan and the EU and claimed it had set important goals and means for enhancing relations between the two sides.

He appreciated EU’s emphasis on promoting education in the developing world to help them overcome poverty, technological backwardness, etc.

ASCE Director Prof Naveed Ahmad Tahir presented the welcome address. She thanked the European Commission for its consistent support and encouragement for years together, and hoped that the same would continue in the years to come.