sharif. his election was a first-ever democratic transition in that country from one elected government to another. it represents a sign of progress in pakistan. we discussed our trade economic and cultural ties and agreed to work together in extremism and tackling poverty in dealing with the issues that can fuel to power -- terrorism. building on -- i welcome and prime ministers commitment to working with afghanistan defeating terrorism across the region. mr. speaker let me turn to last week's european council. this was rightly focused on sorting out europe's economy is doing what we are doing in britain getting a grip on spending and supporting private enterprise to create jobs and growth. while spending the council finalized with the european parliament the seven year budget deal we successfully negotiated in february. this will create new possibilities between different years and between different budget headings but crucially the deal delivers for the first time a real terms cut on the c
