his own group. Karim made headline news in December 2012 when he played an instrumental role in securing the return of six-year-old Atiya Anjum-Wilkinson to UK from Pakistan following abduction by her father. Over several weeks he worked closely with Greater Manchester Police and the Pakistani authorities and Atiya was returned safely to her mother during the Christmas holidays. In December 2013, the European Parliament voted to approve a concessionary trade status for Pakistan, GSP+. The preferential trade package for Pakistan's exports to EU countries came into force in January 2014. He steered the International Trade Committee to approve the beneficial trade tariff. From 2014 to 2019, Karim steered the European Parliament's relations with the South Caucasus as chair of the region's delegation, successfully contributing to the establishment of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement with Armenia and its GSP+ trading regime. He has helped finalise the negotiations on a new comprehensive agreement with Azerbaijan and has been monitoring & guiding the implementation of the Association Agreement with Georgia, which includes a Deep & Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement component. Karim has been appointed as the vice-chair of ARDI and as chair of its Working group on Islamophobia. He has held multiple events within the European Parliament aimed at raising awareness of the issue of Islamophobia. In 2018, the European Parliament - as part of its 2019 election campaign - displayed a poster on the Simone Veil Agora, featuring a photo of an ordinary Muslim family, captioned with ‘We need to work together to challenge migration’. Sajjad who considered the poster islamophobic was the only MEP who personally wrote to President Tajani challenging the poster, raising the issue in Plenary and eventually compelling the President to take down the poster. Recognition Karim was awarded an Honorary Doctorate for the University of Management and Technology in Lahore for his work in securing the GSP+ deal and for services to the British Pakistani community. In August 2014 he was awarded the Sitara-i-qaid-i-Azam, Pakistan's highest national honour to non-Pakistanis, for his services to strengthen Pakistan/UK and Pakistan/EU relations. Sajjad was presented with the award in March 2015 by Pakistan President, Mamnoon Hussain, at a ceremony in Islamabad. In January 2015, he was nominated for the Politician of the Year award at the British Muslim Awards. In March 2019, Karim was the recipient of the International Trade Award at The Parliament Magazine's annual MEP Awards.