Pakistan and Hungary have called the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global money-laundering watchdog, a technical body rather than a political tool to be used against others, Tribune reported.

Speaking at a joint media conference in Islamabad, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said he and his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto discussed the FATF  and agreed “that it's a technical forum and the objective of this forum ought to be checking money laundering and terror financing, and it should not be used as a political tool."

Qureshi told reporters that FATF put Hungary on the grey list for some time.

“We think these organizations need to take decisions on technical grounds,” he said.

Szijjarto announced that his country has agreed to establish a credit line of USD 84 million for bilateral business-to-business cooperation and provide another USD 50 million for tied aid programme, besides offering scholarships to 200 Pakistani students.

“We have established a credit line at Hungarian Exim bank to the extent of USD 84 million, which is exclusively to serve the enhancement of business-to-business cooperation between Pakistani and Hungarian companies…” Szijjarto said.

“We are ready to provide USD 50 million for a tied aid credit programme to be launched in Pakistan in the fields of agriculture, water, industry and food processing,” he added.

Besides one-on-one meetings between the two foreign ministers, both sides also held delegation-level talks, in addition to attending a business conference to discuss ways of enhancing bilateral economic cooperation.

Szijjarto was accompanied by representatives from 17 top Hungarian companies, which interacted with Pakistani companies in a matchmaking business to business (B2B) event held under the Economic Diplomacy Initiative.

Qureshi said Hungary had expressed interest in starting direct flights to Pakistan.

He thanked Hungary for helping Pakistan get the generalised scheme of preferences (GSP)-Plus status in the European Union, which doubled its export to the Europe.

Szijjarto said the European Union should support Pakistan in its anti-terror efforts, particularly after the pullout of NATO troops from Afghanistan.