Pakistan-US anti-terror talks from next month: Bilawal Bhutto
Staff Writer
Washington: Pakistan and the United States will hold talks next month to explore possibilities of coordinating their efforts to combat terrorism, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said.
During his one-day stay in Washington to attend the annual prayer breakfast, the foreign minister had a separate meeting with US State Department’s counselor Derek Chollet as well who assured him that “the US stands with Pakistan in combating terrorism for the safety of all”.
Chollet said in a tweet after the meeting that he conveyed his deep condolences to the Pakistani foreign minister on the recent bombing in Peshawar and “discussed progress towards Pakistan’s economic stability and flood recovery”.
Bilawal Bhutto said the talks focused on “terrorism and on Pakistan’s efforts” to recover from last summer’s devastating floods.
“We are grateful for the support we received from the US,” he said. “Not just for bilateral assistance but also for supporting the Geneva conference.”
Last month, Pakistan and the United Nations co-hosted a one-day conference in Geneva where Pakistan sought international support for its rehabilitation, and reconstruction efforts. Pakistan raised about $9 billion at the conference, at least a billion more than it had asked for and the United States is believed to have helped Pakistan in achieving this target.
Pakistan and the United States, he said, would also hold talks on poverty reduction, narcotics control and on some other issues next month.
Replying to a question about his visit to Russia, the foreign minister said: “We had a detailed conversation on many sectors, including energy.” The two sides, he said, discussed both “old and new proposals for purchasing oil and gas from Russia”. Asked if Pakistan was close to clenching an oil deal with Russia, he said, “the energy conversation is ongoing, it has not matured yet”.
