The sixth round of Ministerial level Pakistan-US Strategic Dialogue is scheduled to be held on 29 February 2016 in Washington. Advisor to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Mr. Sartaj Aziz, and the US Secretary of State, Mr. John Kerry, will lead their respective sides. This will be the third annual meeting since the government assumed office in 2013. The six segments of the Strategic Dialogue include cooperation in: (i) Economy and Finance (ii) Energy (iii) Education, Science and Technology (iv) Law Enforcement and Counter Terrorism (v) Security, Strategic Stability and Non-Proliferation and (vi) Defence.
The Advisor chaired an Inter-Ministerial Meeting today, which was held to review progress of the previous rounds and prepare for the upcoming strategic dialogue to further strengthen the partnership with special focus on expanding trade and investment cooperation. The meeting was attended by Mr. Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Planning, Development & Resources and Mr. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Minister for Petroleum & Natural Resources. Federal Secretaries dealing with Commerce, Defence, EAD, Finance, Interior, Planning & Development, Water & Power, BOI, Chairman FBR, and Representatives of NACTA, Ministry of Climate Change and the GHQ also attended.
The Prime Minister’s visit to the US in October 2015 had provided necessary impetus and direction to the dialogue mechanism. The upcoming meeting will afford an important opportunity to take stock of the entire gamut of Pakistan’s bilateral relations with the United States.
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