Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf issued an official statement on Tuesday, in a briefing following his first meeting with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in Brussels, calling on the European Union to accept more economic cooperation with his country, under the form of more market access for Pakistani-based goods, as well as additional foreign investment into his country, in order to help Pakistan continue and improve its anti-terrorism strategy, Chinese news agency Xinhua reports.

In his opinion, additional investment and trade opportunities for Pakistan would cut down on poverty, would create job opportunities and reduce the high unemployment rates of the country. In turn, this would provide an important contribution to the fight against terrorism that Pakistan continued to highlight in the past few weeks. "With trade our industry expands and creates jobs and when it creates jobs it strikes at the root of poverty and also strikes at the root of extremism and terrorism", he stated.

According to Musharraf, the central topic of his round of discussions with Barroso was the fight against terrorism in Pakistan, where the former attempted to convince European Union lawmakers that terrorist networks were not created within his country but were "imported" following regional or domestic conflicts that have taken place in the last 26 years. In his opinion, the Taliban are a more dangerous group than the al-Qaeda, given that the former has actually gained in strength and began regrouping especially in the southern provinces of Afghanistan. It is either there or in Pakistan that Osama bin Laden is currently hiding, Musharraf added and promised that the search for him continues: "We will continue our search for Mr. Bin Laden".

In his turn, the European President outlined the positive contribution that Pakistan provides in the elimination of terrorist networks, reminding everyone present of the crucial role played by the country in the foiling of the British-US bound airplanes terrorist attack.