ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States Jalil Abbas Jilani has said that the upcoming Pak-US Strategic Dialogue will focus on Pakistan’s relations with Afghanistan and a rapid increase in tensions with India.
The two-day ministerial meeting of Pakistan-US Strategic Dialogue will begin in Islamabad early next week for which the US Secretary of State John Kerry will arrive in Pakistan.
In an interview, the Pakistani envoy said that there has been a steady progress in relations with Afghanistan since the election of a new government in Kabul.
The ambassador acknowledged that recent clashes on India-Pakistan border were a cause of concern in both Washington and Islamabad.
Jilani said that the Pakistan-US discussions will cover economy and trade, energy, counter-terrorism, defence, nuclear non-proliferation, education and science and technology.
The Pakistani side will also give a briefing on the new national consensus against terrorism which emerged after the Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar on December 16 last year.
On Thursday, at her weekly media briefing in Islamabad, the Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam said that visit of John Kerry would initiate a new round of Pakistan-US Strategic Dialogue and the entire gamut of Pakistan-US relations will be discussed.
The Foreign Office spokesperson said that regional issues and international situations will also come under discussion during the strategic dialogue.
