The European Union's foreign affairs chief, Catherine Ashton is expected to raise the issue of aid for Pakistan at a meeting in Brussels tomorrow, six weeks after the country was hit by devastating flooding.
The EU is still struggling to decide how to help beyond emergency aid, with a plan to offer lucrative trade concessions locked in dispute.
Last month, Ms Ashton, urged member states to consider granting Pakistan more favourable trade terms as a means to support its economy and shore up the leadership of President Asif Ali Zardari in the struggle against Islamist militancy.
Britain and Germany - two of the EU's most powerful countries - have strongly backed the proposal.
It is now bogged down in disagreement over how it could be implemented and the effects it would have on India and on EU members with industries that compete with Pakistan exports.
Ms Ashton will again raise the issue with EU foreign ministers at tomorrow's meeting with the hope of securing a general agreement that can be put to EU leaders at a summit next week.
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Pakistan urgently needed greater market access to help stabilise its economy and cautioned that Islamist militants would try to exploit economic crisis and social instability.
"It is up to us, the international community and international partners, not to given them this opportunity," he told Reuters after talks with Ms Ashton in Brussels.
"Obviously the risk is linked to the response we are able to give. People are desperate, they are destitute, if we are not able to assist them, they will be frustrated and there will be social instability linked to that."
Ahead of tomorrow's meeting it remained far from clear that an agreement could be reached, with trade, aid and foreign affairs diplomats at odds over the details, even if all were agreed that they would like to do something to help Pakistan.
Any deal is likely to fall short of what Ms Ashton had originally hoped for which was a move to grant Pakistan access to the EU's enhanced trade status for developing states, known as the Generalised System of Preferences-Plus (GSP+).
That is something Pakistan has long coveted, but does not qualify for on at least two counts. First, its exports to the EU, worth €3.02 billion in 2009, are already too large, and second it has not met the human rights and good-governance criteria that usually go with GSP+.
Two possibilities remain. Tariffs could be reduced or suspended for a fixed period via a special World Trade Organisation waiver or duty could be suspended on a range of products which would also benefit other countries producing the same goods
The first possibility, previously granted to Pakistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks in recognition of its role as an ally in the war in Afghanistan, is strongly opposed by trade officials because it is likely to lead to opposition from India and extensive litigation within the World Trade Organisation.
The second option may win more support, but the list of products on which duties would be waived is expected to be limited, diplomats say, and would not include bed linen or ethanol, two important high-value Pakistani exports.
According to an internal EU document seen by Reuters, a unilateral suspension or reduction of tariffs could be worth up to €1.0 billion a year for Pakistan, whereas suspending duties on a few products might only generate gains of €50-60 million a year over a fixed three-year period.
Human rights and aid groups are pressing the EU to reach an agreement at tomorrow's meeting and move quickly to provide extra aid to Pakistan, which is still reeling from the massive floods, with more than 20 million people affected.
Reuters