Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to Washington last week was highly productive. It validated that Pak-US relations were by and large on the right track and needed to be consolidated and strengthened.
The US and Pakistan resolved to expand the bilateral relationship from the “traditional security realm”to trade and investment; economic growth, education, science and technology; energy; climate change; and regional integration. The two countries are already collaborating in these areas but the real achievement would be to mainstream them. Beyond rhetoric, the US made commitments to help Pakistan accelerate trade and investment-driven growth, among others, through the General System of Preferences (GSP) programme and the US-Pakistan Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) process. The US reiterated its support for the Central Asia-South Asia (CASA-1000) electricity corridor and the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline.
Strategic Perspectives Through Research and Dialogue
