US, Pakistan agree to diversify mutual ties

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan informed Washington on Tuesday that it was time to diversify the bilateral relations and though Afghanistan was important for both sides, there is much more to focus upon.

“All focus so far has been on Afghanistan. In today’s meeting with Ambassador Alice Wells, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, was informed during the delegation level talks that all focus has been on Afghanistan but our bilateral relations are more than this. The Pakistani side emphasised the need to diversify the relationship with particular focus on enhanced economic and trade cooperation and people to people contacts”, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told a media conference Tuesday. Both sides agreed to continue efforts to promote the shared objectives of peace and stability in the region and diversify bilateral relationship. With Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua still in Beijing, delegation level talks were led by Aftab Khokhar, Additional Secretary (Americas), from the Pakistan side. The senior officials from the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defence also attended the meeting. Qureshi said as the outcome of Tuesday’s talks and on the insistence of Pakistan to diversify bilateral relations, it was agreed that the US deputy secretary for trade would visit Islamabad for discussions on enhancing trade between the two countries. “The US side has also informed us that it was ready to play a positive role in the water sharing issue between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and today’s deliberations also included Pakistan and the FATF, how far we have progressed as the review will come up in January.”

Earlier, the Foreign Office said the Pak-US meeting took stock of the understanding reached between Foreign Minister Qureshi and Secretary Pompeo to rebuild the relationship based on mutual trust and respect. ”Evolving regional situation and peace and stability in Afghanistan were also discussed. The US delegation appreciated the need to strengthen the bilateral relationship with Pakistan which was an important country of the region”, said the Foreign Office. Qureshi said Pakistan was informed that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has set up an advisory council to reach out to the Afghan Taliban for the reconciliatory process. Afghanistan and Pakistan will be attending the upcoming meeting in Moscow in which the Afghan Taliban would also participate to seek ways and means to move forward.