Hindustan Times, Dec 20, 2012
PTI – Washington
In the wake of improved relation with US, a Pakistan envoy has said both the countries have ‘ramped up’ their cooperation in the past few months which indicates their bi-lateral ties have “clearly weathered” another storm. Sherry Rehman, Pakistan Ambassador to the US said, “The Pak-US Relationship has clearly weathered another storm. In the past six to eight weeks both the governments have ramped up their cooperation as well conversations.”
“Five working groups that have recently concluded intensive engagement in either Washington or Islamabad include Defense, Economic cooperation, Energy security, CT (counter terrorism) and Law and Order, Strategic Security,” Rehman said in Washington yesterday responding to a question on the state of Pak-US relationship.
“High level meetings in Brussels have been productive,” she said referring to the meeting between the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar.
“In London USTR (US Trade Representatives) and Pakistan Government ran a successful Business Opportunities in Pakistan conference, and the USG (US Government) launched a PPII ( Pak Pvt Investment Initiative), which is already oversubscribed.
Other trilateral meetings on Afghanistan continue,” Rehman said. The Pak Ambassador to the US was responding to questions on the improvement in their bilateral ties with US.
In the last six months, the US has reimbursed more than $ 1.8 billion in the coalition support funds, with the last installment of $ 688 million was notified to the Congress by the Pentagon early this month.
Early this week, the US Government told a New York court that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and its two former director generals, Ahmed Shuja Pasha and Nadeem Taj, “enjoy immunity” in the case related to 26/11 case filed by the victims of the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack.
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