Trade deal
December 1, 2009
The new agreement, signed in Berlin on Tuesday, will provide greater security under international law for investors who want to do business in Pakistan. The deal replaces one signed in 1959, which had been the world's first bilateral economic agreement of its kind.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who is on a four-day visit to Germany to promote economic cooperation, welcomed the deal. He asked Berlin to encourage other EU countries to provide greater access for Pakistani products.
Germany is Islamabad's biggest European trade partner, and is also supporting Pakistan with more than 100 million euros in development aid over two years.
On Tuesday Chancellor Angela Merkel promised Pakistan a further four million euros in aid. This will be used to help improve the water supply in the province of Baluchistan, which lies on the Afghan border.
Terrorism fight
At the meeting in Berlin, Merkel commented that it was in Germany's interest to support Pakistan in its efforts to combat terrorism, something that could not be achieved through military means alone.
"We know that Pakistan has suffered very much under terrorism. You need to combat terrorism wherever you find it, but that alone will not be enough to ensure a prosperous future. We have tried to help stabilize the economic situation of Pakistan," Merkel said.
According to Merkel, stabilizing Pakistan's economic situation and improving the living conditions of its people are necessary to undermine the influence of extremism, as is the provision of better education to the young generation.
Pakistan had previously expressed concern that the surge in Western forces across the border in Afghanistan, where Germany currently has some 4,500 troops, may make it more difficult for Islamabad to fight insurgency at home.
Following the talks on Tuesday with Gilani, Merkel repeated Berlin's position that no decision will be made on the deployment of more German troops until after an international conference on Afghanistan strategy in January.
cc/dpa/AP/KNA
Editor: Kyle James