Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari meets US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in New York on Wednesday — Picture courtesy Foreign Office
Top US and Pakistan Diplomats Say They Want Stronger Ties
United Nations: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pakistan’s new Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari met for the first time Wednesday and both said they want to strengthen ties between the two countries.
Bhutto Zardari flew to New York to attend a ministerial meeting at UN headquarters called by the United States later Wednesday that will be chaired by Blinken on growing food insecurity around the world, which has been exacerbated by Russia’s war on Ukraine.
The Pakistani minister welcomed the US initiative at the start of his meeting with Blinken at UN headquarters, saying “recent geopolitical events have indeed aggravated the situation, and countries like Pakistan have already been facing challenges in food security, water security, energy security because of a whole host of issues ranging from climate change to issues in our neighborhood.”
“I also look forward to the opportunity to increasing engagement between Pakistan and the United States, working with yourself and your administration to improve trade relations between Pakistan and the United States and create opportunities for American investors and Pakistani investors and Pakistani businessmen and American entrepreneurs to work together,” Bhutto Zardari said.
Blinken welcomed Pakistan’s participation at the food security event and called his meeting with the foreign minister “an important opportunity for us to talk about the many issues we’re working together.”
“We want to focus on the work we’re doing to strengthen our economic and commercial ties between the United States and Pakistan,” and to focus on regional security, America's top diplomat said.
Pakistan is the current chair of the Group of 77 — a powerful coalition of 134 mainly developing nations and China at the United Nations -- and Blinken said “the United States is looking forward to strengthening our own relations and dialogue with the G77.” He said he looked forward to talking to the foreign minister about that.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price said later that Blinken met with Bhutto Zardari “to affirm the shared desire for a strong and prosperous bilateral relationship.”
During the meeting, which lasted about 45 minutes, Price said they discussed “expanding partnership in climate, investment, trade, and health as well as people-to-people ties.”
“They underscored the importance of US-Pakistan cooperation on regional peace, counterterrorism, Afghan stability, support for Ukraine, and democratic principles,” the spokesman said.
Bhutto Zardari, the son of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto who was killed in 2007, is co-chair of one of the two largest opposition parties that ousted former prime minister Imran Khan on April 11.
Pakistan’s parliament elected opposition lawmaker Shahbaz Sharif as the country’s new prime minister and he appointed Bhutto Zardari as foreign minister on April 27. – AP
According to an earlier Dawn report ‘ US offers strong support to rebuild Pakistan’s economy ’ by Anwar Iqbal and Baqir Sajjad Syed , h ours after Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari arrived in New York on Tuesday for a series of meetings with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, a State Department spokesperson assured Pakistan of strong US support for their efforts to rebuild the Pakistani economy.
The United States “will continue to work bilaterally on ways to grow investment and trade opportunities to build a prosperous and stable Pakistan,” the spokesperson told Dawn in Washington.
The United States also “welcomes the ongoing International Monetary Fund (IMF) deliberations with Pakistan,” the spokesperson added.
Also, IMF sources in Washington confirmed that Pakistan and the IMF would start their review talks in Doha on Wednesday to strike a staff-level agreement for the release of a $1 billion tranche under an Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
The week-long review will be an opportunity for Pakistan to convince the IMF to revive a stalled $6bn package for stabilizing its cash-starved economy.
A public expression of US support would boost Islamabad’s efforts to revive the program and could smooth bullish market trends as well.
The spokesperson also confirmed media reports of a one-on-one meeting between Secretary Blinken and Mr Bhutto-Zardari.
“We confirm Secretary Blinken and Foreign Minister Bhutto-Zardari will meet one-on-one and cover a number of bilateral concerns in a follow-up to their May 6 call,” the US official said.
Earlier, the foreign minister told journalists in New York that he would share Pakistan’s perspective on various issues with the international community in his UN engagements.
Mr Bhutto-Zardari is attending a UN ministerial meeting of Global Food Security Call for Action and the Security Council’s open debate on maintenance of international peace, with a focus on conflict and food security.
The US mission to the United Nations initiated both meetings to highlight how the Feb 24 Russian invasion of Ukraine was threatening global food security.
“We are here to share Pakistan’s message with the United Nations,” said Mr Bhutto-Zardari while talking to a group of Pakistani journalists at New York’s JFK airport.
The PTI had earlier planned a protest on his arrival but later they canceled the program. Even PML-N supporters stayed away from the small PPP crowd that gathered at the airport to welcome their leader.
The foreign minister took an Emirates flight, which was delayed by a medical emergency. Mr Bhutto-Zardari’s entourage included a senior official from his ministry and some members of his personal staff. He was received by Ambassador Munir Akram, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, its US envoy Ambassador Masood Khan and other senior officials of the two missions.
Renewal of ties with US
Speaking about Mr Bhutto-Zardari’s maiden official visit to the US, other upcoming overseas trips, and the external policy priorities of the new government at Foreign Office in Islamabad, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar told the media the government was committed to renewal of ties with the US.
She said Mr Bhutto-Zardari’s meeting with Secretary Blinken provides “a useful opportunity” for strengthening bilateral engagement with the US.
Sharing the broader contours of foreign policy operations under the new minister, Ms Khar said promoting national interest would be the foremost priority; trust and confidence with partners would be rebuilt; old friendships would be consolidated and new ones would be forged; stability and continuity in policies would be provided while retaining the flexibility to adapt as required; focus would be on immediate neighborhood as well as on balanced, objective, broad-based, mutually beneficial relations with major powers.
