US govt team to visit Pakistan for expanding economic, security ties
Delegation will hold talks with senior officials on strengthening economic ties, impacts of climate crisis
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A US delegation is coming to Pakistan and Bangladesh on a five-day visit starting from today (Tuesday), reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
According to the US State Department, Counselor of the US Department of State Derek Chollet will lead a US delegation to Bangladesh and Pakistan, from February 14 to 18, to meet with senior government officials, civil society members, and business leaders to highlight the importance of the bilateral partnership and reaffirm our countries’ shared goals.
Counselor Chollet will be joined by Clinton White, Counselor of the US Agency for International Development, and Elizabeth Horst, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs at the US Department of State, and, in Bangladesh only, Beth Van Schaack, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice.
In Bangladesh, the delegation will meet with senior Bangladeshi officials to discuss coordination and response to the Rohingya refugee crisis, strengthening cooperation in international fora, and advancing the security partnership between the United States and Bangladesh.
In Pakistan, the delegation will meet with senior officials to discuss strengthening economic ties, cooperating to address the impacts of the climate crisis, and expanding the people-to-people connections between the United States and Pakistan.
The delegation will also reaffirm the strong security cooperation between the two nations. Counselor Chollet will convey US condolences for the recent terrorist attack at a Peshawar mosque, and reaffirm US solidarity with the Pakistani people as they continue to recover from the devastating 2022 floods.
It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan and the US began their defence talks in Washington on Monday to enhance coordination on strategic issues and explore various options for ramping up bilateral military and security ties.
The four-day talks, ending on Feb 16, is a second round of the Pakistan-US Mid-Level Defence Dialogue. The first round was held in Pakistan in January 2021.
Chief of General Staff Lt Gen Mohammad Saeed is leading the inter-agency delegation that reached Washington on Sunday.
The team includes senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Joint Staff Headquarters and three services headquarters. The US multi-agency team is represented by the office of the undersecretary of defence.
The talks are being held in the backdrop of increasing militant activities in Pakistan by insurgents coming from Afghanistan.
In a brief statement issued on Sunday, Pakistan stated: “Issues of bilateral defence and security cooperation will be discussed during the defence dialogue”.