EU-Pakistan Agree to Launch Comprehensive Dialogue on Migration and Mobility
The agreement was reached yesterday, November 14, after a two-day visit to Pakistan by the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, during which she held meetings with Government, law enforcement and UN agencies to discuss a wide range of migration and security issues, AtoZSerwisPlus.pl reports.
Upon the meeting, the Commissioner revealed that Pakistan and the EU have reached an agreement to cooperate in all areas related to migration, including from a regional point of view.
“This will encompass all relevant aspects of migration management, including legal pathways for migration to Europe and addressing irregular migration and migrant smuggling and continued enhanced cooperation on return, readmission and reintegration, through the full and effective implementation of the Pakistan-EU readmission agreement,” she pointed out in this regard.
The EU Commissioner Johansson talked to the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, Hina Rabbani Khar, to step up plans for the “Talent Partnership” with Pakistan to facilitate work and living in the involved EU member states for eligible Pakistani nationals.
In addition, Commissioner Johansson thanked the Pakistani government for hosting about three million Afghans, of whom 1.3 million are refugees. At the same time, she also noted that the EU has recently experienced continental solidarity with the arrival of 4.5 million Ukrainian refugees this year.
The Commissioner also held discussions with Minister Rabbani Khar to increase concrete bilateral cooperation in the security field, including counter-terrorism, the fight against criminal networks, and the fight against the smuggling of immigrants.
Commenting on this agreement, Khar said that Pakistan is working hard to minimise illegal migration, adding that the country, with its 65 per cent young population, is in a good position today to provide skilled labour to the EU in various fields, including information technology.
Moreover, EU Commissioner Johansson said that after she visited Peshawar, where she met with the officials of the Border Corps and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), and also was informed a lot about the fight against terrorism and organised crime, as well as border management activities along with the Pak-Afghan border.
According to Commissioner Johansson, the first EU-Pakistan counter-terrorism dialogue since 2018 will be held early next year in Islamabad. Thus, on the Commissioner’s first visit to Pakistan, a wide-ranging exchange of views on Afghan migration and refugees with several UN agencies were concluded.
