ISLAMABAD: Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs at the US Department of State, Elizabeth Horst Friday said that long-lasting reforms in the economic sector and creating business-conducive environment for the investors could help Pakistan cope with the prevailing economic issues.
“Pakistan has a lot of investment potential in various sectors of economy, while the robust policies can help attract local and foreign investment in the country, ensuring sustainable development”, she said while responding to the questions of the students in an interactive session.
The session was held here at National University of Science and Technology (NUST)’s Lincoln Corner. The US high official was accompanied by United States Ambassador to Pakistan, Donald Blome.
She said, “The US recognizes the fact that Pakistan has been a victim of terrorism, and has rendered endless sacrifices in its fight against terrorism.
“The recent attack in Peshawar Police Lines mosque is a reminder that a lot of work needs to be done to wipe out terrorism completely.
“Terrorism is a global issue which needs to be addressed through ensuring that the space for terrorists shrinks, and root causes are eliminated”, she said.
“United States is an active partner of Pakistan in its struggle against terror and we will continue working together for finding out solutions to end the root causes of terrorism”, she said.
About climate change impacts on the world environment, Elizabeth Horst said that there were no easy solutions to address the climate change issue which was impacting the citizens globally.
“This is the time that we have to join hands and come up with the solutions to mitigate climate change impacts, when countries like Pakistan are witnessing transition into the new technologies”, she said.
Earlier in her opening remarks, Elizabeth Horst said, “The United States and Pakistan have been enjoying cordial relations for the last 75 years, having a positive momentum especially in terms of strong people to people contact and economic ties”.
“Although sometimes these relations get little bit distracted due to the regional and security issues that are going on, but at the heart of Pakistan-US relations is, its people to people contact and growth”, she said.
She said that the US had been offering an extensive range of educational, cultural and exchange programmes to Pakistani students which were fostering bilateral relations and people to people contacts.
“The US-Pakistan Green Alliance is the most exciting part of bilateral cooperation to address global climate crisis. The US administration recognizes that this is the crisis that no country can manage by itself. I am hopeful that both the countries will come up with such solutions to address climate crisis under this alliance, enabling us to look into global as well as local problems.
“Pakistanis have endured a terrible flooding last year, and we have to address climate crisis together.”
She pointed out the need for the countries to come up with the best possible solutions to address climate change in which “the science and technology sector will be most important to ensure comfortable life style of people along with addressing climate issue.”
Along with the public sector efforts for micro-economic stability, private sector should also contribute for economic growth in the country.
Talking about the value of democracy and freedom in the society, she said that the current US administration was focusing on strengthening democracy and human rights.
“As a part of such efforts, we have planned a second summit for democracy by the end of March that speaks of the fact that democracy is a supreme value that cannot be compromised in a welfare state.
“Pakistan is a great example of democracy, with a vibrant political system as in the US”, Elizabeth Horst said.
