New Delhi: India has conveyed to the European Union (EU) that Pakistan was placing several obstacles in the way of better regional economic cooperation.

This was communicated by External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha at the recent India-EU troika meeting in Athens.

He told his counterparts from Denmark, Greece and Italy besides top EU representatives that Pakistan's obduracy in moving towards a free trade arrangement in the region were among the stumbling blocks for boosting trade and commercial ties.

Denial of most favoured nation status by Pakistan to India, no progress in meetings held on SAPTA (South Asian Preferential Trade Agreement) and SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Agreement) and Islamabad bringing forward items on negative list for preferential treatment, clearly showed their lack of sincerity, External Affairs Ministry spokesman said.

During the parleys, Sinha also exchanged perceptions on the Iraq crisis with both sides sharing the view that conflict should be avoided, that Baghdad should fully comply with UN resolutions. It was felt that the UN route should be followed.

It was decided that the fourth Indo-EU Summit would be held in Delhi later this year.

PTI