ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said on Wednesday it was high time for Pakistan and the United States to strengthen their relationship on basis of mutual respect and economic development instead of limiting it to defense and security.
Addressing a press conference in Washington, the minister, accompanied by Ambassador Masood Khan, said the relationship was at a new juncture.
He said, following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August last, both countries witnessed coldness in relations. But with this both the countries felt that ties between them were imperative for durable peace in this region.
The minister said, in past, relations between the two countries would revolve around the security circle and as a result when that security scenario was relevant, the ties were good and touching heights but when the geostrategic scenario changed the relations would witness coldness.
So there is 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 a development partner and not only security partner.
He said America was a biggest export market for Pakistan and was also source of investment for it while US can also play an important role in developing human resource of Pakistan and play an import role in the progress and prosperity of the country.
He said, Japan, China, South Korea etc got thousands of their human resource trained in the US, who in return worked for progress and prosperity. However, unfortunately, Pakistan could not take this benefit.
He said, when PML (N) was in power back in 2017, US-Pakistan Knowledge Corridor was established and Pakistan provided funding for 1,000 PhD in 10 years from the US. However, after the change in government, the programme was dumped in cold storage.
He said, since US was having rich technology so it could help Pakistan in developing science and technology, agriculture and human resource.
He urged US tech giants to open their research centers in Pakistan and take benefit from resources available in Pakistan. He said, many American companies have been looking forward to operate in Pakistan.
He said, cooperation in information and technology sector would help provide employment to youth and Pakistan and would also help 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 mitigate the negative impact of climate change.
He said, back in 1960 US helped Pakistan in bringing about green revolution and making it self-sufficient in agriculture production. US could follow the suit and help Pakistan develop seed technology and agriculture sector.
He said, 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
He said, Pakistan was going towards stabilization so all stakeholders need to understand the challenges faced by Pakistan at the moment when all world was in turmoil.
He also highlighted the importance of developing Charter of Economy to take it towards sustainable stability adding that the coalition government had provided an opportunity to make reforms.
He said, Pakistan is on way to stabilization adding agreement with International Monetary Fund has been finalized whereas Pakistan is 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 opposition to play positive role.
