FOREIGN Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari met with US Secretary of State Atony Blinken on Tuesday and discussed the need for close coordination between the two countries.
During his Washington’s visit, the Foreign Minister also met with various American lawmakers as well as a section of Pakistani diaspora and discussed the diverse areas of cooperation.
Ever since assuming the charge of the Foreign Ministry by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the level of engagement with the US side at different levels has seen an uptick which indeed is a step in the right direction.
As a result of this engagement, a positive momentum is being seen in the bilateral relationship.
In an interview earlier on MSNBC, FM Bilawal said that Pakistan and the United States relations are being reshaped with an emphasis on creating economic opportunities.
This once again demonstrates how much importance Pakistan gives to its relationship with the US which is also the biggest destination for its export products.
In fact, it has always been our desire to build a strong long-term partnership with Washington on the basis of mutual interest and respect.
But it is really unfortunate that the other side happened to be more expedient and self-centred.
Its transactional and coercive approach only has generated anti-US sentiments. This is the reason that the aid that was provided by the US in critical times to Pakistan was also seen with suspicion.
Time has come that the US changes its policy and move forward to take the relationship to a positive trajectory.
Both the countries have immense potential of cooperating in the fields of education, climate threat mitigation, food security, power sector development and Information Technology.
Both the sides can massively cooperate in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of flood affected areas and to build a climate resilient infrastructure.
America-Pakistan Educational Corridor (APEC) is another idea that was mooted in the past by the name of US-Pakistan Knowledge Corridor.
This would promote people-to-people contacts and also help address misunderstandings between the two sides.
