Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on Monday said that Pakistan and the United States were engaged in strategic dialogue but there were divergence of views on some issues like nuclear issue.

“Over all relations between Pakistan and the US are good as both the countries are engaged in six working groups for cooperation in counter-terrorism, energy, education and many other important areas,” he said while briefing editors of newspapers and TV anchors on foreign policy and Pakistan’s strategy to address emerging challenges.

He said Pakistan had its own nuclear policy and it would not allow anyone what should be its counters and how it should maintain its minimum credible nuclear deterrence. “Our relations with the US are intact and our priorities are right but there are difficulties due to geo-political circumstances,” he said. The US relations with India were not at the expense of Pakistan, he added.

Asked about the eight F-16 deal with the US which could not materialise as the US withdrew its subsidy, he said that Pakistan was looking for alternatives and was in talks with China, Russia and other countries to diversify its sources for fulfilling its defence needs. The US, if seen in a big picture, was following a policy of containing China in this region and had developed close relations with India, he said.

He also said that Russia and China together were playing their own role in this part of the world. As Pakistan’s future was tied in this region, hence it had to balance its relations with all its neighbours and other countries, he said. On the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he said it was a quantum jump with its historic relations with China.

– Multi-billion CPEC project –

The adviser said that Pakistan was determined to implement CPEC and had created a special force to ensure protection of its workers. He said that the importance of the CPEC could be gauged from the fact that within a span of 12 moths all its projects were nearing financial close because of the special priority accorded to it by the top Chinese leadership.

He said that this multi-billion project was very important for the countries of the entire region as it would provide them connectivity and generate huge economic activity. Referring to the elections contested by Pakistan at various international forums, he said of the 18 elections, it had won 17 while lost only one election. This (achievement) would not have been possible without an active foreign policy, he said.

He said that Pakistan had been playing very active role in Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and had been actively involved with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to export its skilled labour. Asked about Indian moves to forge relations with Saudi Arabia and GCC countries, he said that India was a big market and had exportable surplus so the countries wanted economic relations with it.

– Gwadar-Nawabshah LNG pipeline –

However, Pakistan’s relations with these countries were historic and deep-rooted hence would not be influenced by such developments. On Pak-Iran relations, he said that given the then Western sanctions on Iran, the two countries had decided to develop Gwadar-Nawabshah LNG pipeline which would be completed by 2017 to the benefit of the two sides.

He said that Pakistan’s overall relations with Iran were good and historic. Iran had made it clear that its soil would not be allowed to be used against Pakistan, he said. Similarly, its relations with Saudi Arabia were cordial and deep-rooted and Pakistan had joined 34 countries alliance against terrorism, he said. Pakistan was maintaining a balanced and positive relation with both Saudi Arabia and Iran, he added.

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Pervaiz Rashid, Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi and Foreign Affairs Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry were also present on the occasion.