ISLAMABAD, Jul 21 (APP): Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqal said on Wednesday that it was high time for Pakistan and the United States of America to establish their relations on basis of mutual respect, economy and development instead of limiting these to just security scenario.
Addressing a press conference in Washington, the federal minister said the relations between both the countries were at a new juncture. The minister was flanked by Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Masood Khan.
He said, after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, both the countries witnessed coldness in relations apparently. But with that both the countries felt that ties between them were imperative for durable peace in the region.
The minister said, in past, relations between the two countries would revolve around security circle and as a result when that security scenario was relevant, the ties were good and touching heights, but when the geo-strategic scenario changed the relations would witnessed coldness. So there was a need to develop these relations based on mutual respect and on the basis of economy and development, he stressed.
He said, the US should harmonize its relations with Pakistan keeping in view its developmental needs whereas Pakistan should also consider America as development partner and not only security partner.
He said America was biggest export market for Pakistan and was also source of investment for it while the US could also play an important role in developing the human resource of Pakistan, and play an import role in the progress and prosperity of the country.
He said that Japan, China, South Korea etc got thousands of their human resource trained in the US, who on return worked for progress and prosperity of their country. However, unfortunately Pakistan could not take this benefit.
He said that when PML-N was in power back in 2017, US-Pakistan Knowledge Corridor was established and Pakistan provided funding for 1000 PhD in 10 years from the US. However, after the change in government, the programme was dumped in cold-storage.
The minister said that since the US was having rich technology, so it could help Pakistan in developing science and technology, agriculture and human resource.
He urged the US tech giants to open their research centres in Pakistan and benefit from the resources available in Pakistan. He said that many American companies had been looking forward to operate in Pakistan.
Ahsan said that cooperation in information and technology sector would help provide employment to Pakistani youth and would also help the US companies to expand their businesses.
He said he during his visit had also stressed the developed world to cooperate with Pakistan for working on mitigating the negative impact of climate change. Back in 1960, the US helped Pakistan in bringing about green revolution and making it self-sufficient in agriculture production.
The US could follow suit and help Pakistan develop seed technology and agriculture sector, he added.
He said that during his talks with US businessmen, they agreed to promote business to business cooperation. The minister, however lamented that the political insecurity at home could hit economy, which was put on path of stability. Pakistan, he said, was going towards stabilization, so all stakeholders needed to understand the challenges faced by the country at the moment when the entire world was in turmoil.
He also highlighted the importance of developing a Charter of Economy to take it towards sustainable stability, adding that the coalition government had provided an opportunity to make reforms. He said that the agreement with International Monetary Fund had been finalized, and Pakistan was also going to come out of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list. He, however, stressed the need for political stability in the country and urged the opposition to play positive role.
Follow the PNI Facebook page for the latest news and updates.
