Senior US diplomat Alice Wells on Tuesday held discussions with senior officials of the Foreign Office and reviewed progress on bilateral relations.
Wells, the US principal deputy assistant secretary of state for south and central Asia, was led the American delegation while the Pakistani side was headed by FO Additional Secretary Aftab Khokher.
“The meeting took stock of the understanding reached between Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Secretary Mike Pompeo to rebuild the relationship based on mutual trust and respect,” FO spokesman Dr Mohammad Faisal said in a statement.
Pakistan during the meeting stressed the need to increase commercial and economic cooperation and people-to-people contacts in order to diversity bilateral US-Pakistan relations, the handout said.
The evolving regional situation and peace and stability in Afghanistan were also discussed during the meeting.
“The US delegation appreciated the need to strengthen the bilateral relationship with Pakistan which is an important country of the region,” the statement revealed.
The two sides agreed to continue efforts to promote the shared objectives of peace and stability in the region and to diversify their bilateral relationship.
During a separate meeting with Finance Minister Asad Umar, the present state of Pakistan-US ties – with an emphasis on economic cooperation – and the overall security situation in the region came under discussion, a Ministry of Finance statement said.
“Matters pertaining to international cooperation to curb terror financing were also discussed,” the statement said.
The finance minister was quoted as saying during the meeting that Pakistan had made strides in the war against terrorism in recent years and “it will continue to take all possible steps to root out terror financing and money laundering”.
Umar shared the government’s vision to reform the country’s economy with the diplomat, who informed the minister about the US efforts for regional security.
The finance minister said “such visits contribute to enhancing understanding of each other’s point of view on issues of bilateral significance”.
Ambassador Wells had arrived in Pakistan earlier in the day on a one-day visit. The government had announced that Wells would discuss “Pakistan-US ties, regional situation and Afghan peace process”.
The visit comes ahead of an upcoming meeting of regional countries, involving Iran, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, on Afghan peace. The meeting is being hosted by Moscow.
Published in Daily Times, November 7th 2018.
