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Zardari for taking holistic view of Pak-US bilateral relations |
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Updated at:
2230
PST, Tuesday, November 10, 2009 |
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ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday said that both Pakistan and the United States needed to take a holistic view of their bilateral relations.
The President said this during a meeting with U.S. Congressional delegation headed by Ms. Jane Harman, Chair of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence and Terrorism Risk Assessment to Pakistan, which called on him here at the Presidency on Tuesday night.
The delegation besides Ms. Jane Harman included Congressman Michael T. McCaul, Congressman Christopher P. Carney, Lanier Avant, Cory Horton and Major Khieem Kachson.
U.S. Ambassador in Islamabad, Ms. Anne W. Patterson was also present during the meeting.
Briefing the media, Spokesperson to the President former Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the President told the visiting delegation that democratic stability in Pakistan is contingent upon advancement of development agenda of the government for which U.S. support is critical.
Pakistan would continue to engage with the United States and the international community in developing a pragmatic and effective approach to address the issues that have imperiled security and stability in the country, he added.
The President said that the Government of Pakistan appreciated President Obama's policy of a reach-out to the Muslim world based on mutual respect and understanding.
Farhatullah Babar said that the President also appreciated President Obama administration's resolve to assist Pakistan on energy and economic issues.
The President said, "we are encouraged by the bipartisan support of the U.S. legislators to assist Pakistan and engage it in a long term partnership". He, however, emphasized the need to expedite ROZs legislation in order to give local people hope for the better.
The Spokesperson said that the President also stressed the need for early reimbursement of the arrears in coalition support fund (CSF).
Pointing out that the latest Defense Authorization Bill had placed certain conditions on CSF reimbursements and Pakistan counterinsurgency capability fund, the President said that conditionalities created difficulties in the joint counter terrorism operations.
President Zardari underlined the need for giving political ownership to the war against militancy as critical for wining the war and said that the democratic government of Pakistan had given political ownership to this war which was not available during dictatorship.
In this context, the President said that it would be more helpful if the drone technology was given to Pakistan instead of the drones being employed by others to take out high value targets in the war against terrorism.
Underscoring the need for international support to Pakistan in economic and infrastructure development, the President said that democratic stability of the country was contingent upon advancement of its development agenda.
Fighting militancy on a long term basis needed concrete steps to alleviate poverty and empower people, he said and added that it was for this reason that the US and international support to Pakistan's economic development was critical.
He said that addressing the issue of economic development could best be done through trade rather than mere aid and called for greater market access to Pakistani goods in the US and European Markets.
He said that the international community also needed to take into account new factors like fighting militancy as a factor determining access of a country to the world markets.
Those who attended the meeting included Minister for Defence Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar, Minister for Interior, Senator Rehman Malik, Senator Sughra Imam, Farahnaz Ispahani, Spokesperson to the President former Senator Farhatullah Babar, Secretary Interior, Chaudhry Qamer Zaman, Secretary to the President, Malik Asif Hayat and other senior officials. |
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ISSN 1563-9479 
