Daily Times

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday said that Pakistan valued its mutually beneficial ties with the United States and was determined to further enhance its trade and investment in multi-dimensional fields of IT, agriculture and industry. The prime minister was talking to Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US Sardar Masood Khan who called on him, PM Office Press Wing said in a press release.

The prime minister directed the envoy to identify further avenues of collaboration to promote Pak-US trade and investment.

He further directed Pakistan’s Mission in Washington and the authorities in Pakistan to extend full cooperation to the American investors. The prime minister underscored that the government was working on priority basis to further ease trade and investment-related rules and regulations.

The ambassador briefed the prime minister about the performance of Pakistan’s mission in the US.

Pak-US dialogue: The United States (US) and Pakistan are set to hold a two-day Counterterrorism Dialogue starting from March 6 in Islamabad. The American delegation, led by Christopher Landberg, is expected to arrive in Pakistan for the talks.

According to the spokesperson of the US Department of State, the inter-agency delegation will discuss a joint strategy to combat terrorism with their Pakistani counterparts.

The talks will also focus on border security and a plan to combat the financing of terrorism.

Both countries share the view that Afghan soil is being used for terrorism against Pakistan. The deteriorating relationship between Islamabad and Kabul is a result of the Taliban government’s failure to crack down on terrorists operating from Afghanistan.

The talks come amid tensions between the two countries following an arrest warrant issued against Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan by a court in Pakistan. However, the spokesperson of the US Department of State clarified that it was a problem for the Pakistani people to deal with and not the concern of the US.

The United Nations had recently revealed in a report that the Taliban have failed to fight terrorists in Afghanistan.

The talks between the US and Pakistan are expected to form a plan of action to deal with the threats of terrorism and to improve cooperation between both nations.