BRUSSELS (Agencies) US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday said Pakistans wealthy needed to dig into their own pockets to match international efforts to aid the ravaged nations long-term recovery. Its absolutely unacceptable for those with means in Pakistan not to be doing their fair share to help their own people while taxpayers in Europe, the United States and other contributing countries are all chipping in, Mrs Clinton said. The most important step Pakistan can take is to pass meaningful reforms to expand its tax base, she said as she joined the European Unions foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in pledging continued assistance. The government must require that the economically affluent and elite support the government and people of Pakistan, added Hillary, who has repeatedly insisted on the need for fiscal reforms in Pakistan. Saying the international community can only do so, she urged the government in Islamabad to take immediate and substantial action to mobilize its own resources for the immense task of reconstructing schools, health clinics, bridges, thousands of kilometres of roads and repair new irrigation systems. Tax however was not among a myriad questions put to Pakistans Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi during a 90-minute grilling before the European Parliaments foreign affairs committee. Qureshi, asked to answer questions ranging from the use of flood aid relief to empowering women and Pakistans nuclear intentions, was in Brussels ahead of a key meeting Friday that he co-hosts with Ashton. The ministerial-level session of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan - set up in 2008 grouping 26 nations and international bodies - is to look at the impact of this summers devastating floods on Pakistans long-term recovery efforts. Mrs Clinton, in the EU capital for a one-day NATO summit, said that as Pakistan shifted from relief to recovery from the disaster that impacted 21 million people - with 12 million in need of emergency help according to the UN - more help would be needed from the international community. The progress (the EU and the US) have made together toward fostering stability and prosperity in Pakistan is threatened by the catastrophic damage caused by the floods, she said. So the United States is all the more committed to helping Pakistan rebuild, swiftly and successfully. A safe, secure and stable Pakistan is essential to our shared fight against terrorism and to protect the security of the people of our country and friends and allies, Mrs Clinton added. To date the US and the EU have provided around 450 million dollars each in aid. Europe for its part this month also offered a major trade boost, proposing to lift duties on 75 imports as part of an aid-linked package. The three-year suspension of duties still requires a waiver from the World Trade Organisation as well as a green light from the European Parliament. Calling for further support from Europe at the 27-nation blocs parliament, Qureshi hammered home a message that Islamabads fledgling democracy was on the march after ending a decade of military rule in 2008. We are building a democratic culture, said Qureshi in response to queries on the current role of the military and the power of civilian authorities. Without your help I wouldnt be here, but obviously it takes time. Old habits die hard, he added. It will take root. We have to be persistent and you have to be patient. The Foreign Minister said relations with Afghanistan were on the mend and that his government was tightening the screws along their common border. Today there is a realisation in Pakistan that we do not want talibanisation, he said. Washington will be represented at Fridays Friends of Democratic Pakistan ministerial meeting US envoy for Pakistan Richard Holbrooke. The amount of money to reconstruct what has been destroyed in Pakistan is going to be in the tens of billions of dollars, he said in Paris on Wednesday.