EU asked to set up larger embassies in India, Pakistan
By IANSThursday, March 4, 2010
BRUSSELS - Britain and Sweden have asked the European Union to set up larger diplomatic offices in India, Pakistan, China, Indonesia and Brazil with a view to “deepen and broaden” relationship with these countries.
British foreign secretary David Miliband and his Swedish counterpart Carl Bildt have sent a joint letter to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton urging the bloc to create “larger and more political” delegations in the capitals of India, Pakistan, China, Brazil and Indonesia, EuAsiaNews reported.
“Although our relationship with the US will remain the most important, we firmly believe that our ability to be part of shaping the world of tomorrow is critically dependent on our ability to deepen and broaden our relationship with these states,” they said in the letter, according to a report in the Brussels-based website EUobserver.com published Thursday.
The letter has been sent ahead of an informal EU foreign ministers’ meeting Friday and Saturday in Cordoba, Spain, which is to debate the creation of the EU’s new External Action Service (EAS).
Ashton is planning to put forward her final EAS proposal at the end of March, the report said.
According to the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, the European Commission Delegations abroad will be changed to EU embassies. Spain currently holds the rotating EU Presidency.
