国际英语新闻：Pakistani FM to visit Prague for Pakistan-EU meeting

ISLAMABAD, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi will visit Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, on Friday to attend a Pakistan-European Union ministerial meeting.

    "The Czech Foreign Minister Schwarzenberg will lead the EU delegation accompanied by Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt (incoming EU Presidency) as well as senior officials from the EU Commission", said Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit at his weekly briefing here on Thursday.

    Qureshi will also hold bilateral meeting with the Czech foreign minister and interact with the local and international media, official Associated Press of Pakistan quoted Abdul Basit as saying.

    "Pakistan and the EU instituted political dialogue at the ministerial and senior officials' level in 2004 and had been holding dialogue ever since," he said.

    Besides political dialogue, Pakistan and the EU also established a Joint Commission to promote economic relations and discuss other issues such as governance, human rights, migration, development cooperation, Science and Technology, he said.

    He said the Joint Commission's second session would be held in Brussels on March 16-18 and the Secretary Economic Affairs Division would chair the Joint Commission session from the Pakistan side.