Federal Minister for Commerce Syed Naveed Qamar has welcomed the proposed legislation for GSP plus 2024-34 by the European Commission and hoped that it will strengthen the mutual benefits for Pakistan and the European Union (EU). The minister said this during a reception hosted by him in the honour of the EU delegation to Pakistan and EU ambassadors, said a statement issued on Wednesday. The minister underlined the importance of the GSP Plus scheme for the Pakistani economy and particularly for the export sector. He emphasised that the scheme helped in promoting universal values and created an enabling environment for implementation of 27 international conventions in the beneficiary countries, besides increasing employment opportunities, especially for women. Qamar appreciated European member states for their support for Pakistan in securing the GSP Plus status and its continuity in the last three reviews conducted by the European Parliament and hoped that the forthcoming fourth biennial review would also be successful. He said that Pakistan highly values trade relations with the European Union, which is one of the biggest export destinations of Pakistan. He said that Pakistan enjoys great friendly trade relations with the member states of the European Union. He hoped that with greater avenues for B2B contacts through various instruments such as business forums, trade exhibitions, webinars/seminars, and exchange of delegation will give a further boost in increasing trend in trade. The minister appreciated that many European companies have invested in Pakistan, especially in agro food, energy and renewable energy sectors. He hoped that many more European companies would benefit from the ease of doing business initiative of the government of Pakistan. He said that he will be visiting Brussels and other capitals of European member states to engage with the EU partners to further deepen the bilateral trade relations. Trading relations are mutually beneficial as Pakistan’s export to EU increased by 86 percent from Euro 3.56 billion in 2013 to Euro 6.64 billion in 2021, while exports of EU to Pakistan increased by 69 percent from Euro 3.31 billion in 2013 to Euro 5.59 billion in 2021, according to Eurostat. The increased trade is result of practice facilitation provided by the Ministry of Commerce to the businesspersons from both the parties.