ISLAMABAD: A four-member Pakistani delegation reached Washington on Sunday to attend the sixth round of ministerial-level Pakistan-US strategic dialogue due to be held on Monday.
The delegation is headed by Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and includes Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal, Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali and Interior Secretary Arif Khan.The talks will take stock of entire gamut of bilateral relations between the two countries. The US delegation will be led by John Kerry in the talks.
The six segments of the strategic dialogue include cooperation in economy and finance; energy; education, science and technology, law enforcement and counterterrorism, security, strategic stability and non-proliferation and defense.It will be the third annual meeting since the present government has come to power. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to the United States in October last had given necessary impetus to the dialogue mechanism.Talking to media, Ahsan Iqbal said that the purpose of Pak-US strategic talks is to extend the relations between the two countries. He said that in the past, relations between both the countries were limited to security only. He that the talks also include education, technology and finance.
