Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Masood Khan, has called for greater American investment in Pakistan and more trade between the two countries in an effort to further strengthen their relations.
Speaking at the World Affairs Council in Philadelphia, he urged US businesses to increase their investment portfolios, especially in tech-startups, renewable energy, agriculture and extractive industries.
“Pakistan is a big market for American manufacturers,” the ambassador told a gathering of scholars, policy-makers, legislators, entrepreneurs, business leaders and professionals. “If you manufacture state-of-the-art products, you have 240 million consumers in Pakistan,” he said. In his remarks, Ambassador Masood Khan dealt with Pak-US relations, war on terror, re-calibration of their bilateral ties in the post-withdrawal period, Pakistan-India relations and the issues of regional stability. In this regard, he focused on the existing investment and trade opportunities between the two countries that provided new sinews to the relationship.
Tracing the roots of Pak-US relations, especially the US support during the initial days of Pakistan and the robust partnership of the two countries both in times of war and peace, the Ambassador presented a holistic view of the ties spanning over seven decades, saying the two countries are now investing in people-centric diplomacy.
“We have a big human capital and it is growing. Pakistan is digitally connected with the rest of the world and it is tech savvy, with hundreds of institutions which are investing in future technologies,” he said. On counter-terrorism cooperation, Masood Khan said, “We collaborated and together we broke the back of terrorist organizations. Al-Qaeda is not where it was in 2001-02. There is awareness all around the world about the asymmetric threat of terrorism to international civilization and how to tackle it,” he said.
In late 2021 and early 2022, he said, the leadership of Pakistan and the United States reset their relationship, deciding that “while we will continue our cooperation in countering terrorism, promoting regional stability, maintaining a dialogue, we would like to secure the region from any nuclear instability and so on.”
“At the same time, he said they began working to strengthen their economic partnership. “And we have been succeeding in the areas of trade and investment, renewable energy, green technologies, combating climate change, health care, education and others.”
“When I came here in 2022, the number of Pakistani students in American universities was 7,000. Now it is more than 10,000,” he said. In this regard, he also referred to the renewal of the agreement between the two countries for cooperation in science and technology.
About Pakistan’s relations with China, the Ambassador reiterated that its relations with China were not at the expense of its ties with the United States.
Referring to the historic role played by Pakistan in bringing China and US closer to each other in the early 70s, he said that Pakistan was willing to play the role of an economic bridge between the two countries. On Pak-India relations, the Ambassador said that there hasn’t been any structured dialogue between the two countries since 2014. Underscoring the need for a result-oriented structured dialogue, Masood Khan said that “we should create the required atmosphere for talking to each other.” Pointing out the strategic imbalance in South Asia and US tilt towards India, Masood Khan urged US government to follow a balanced approach. “ The US’ heavy tilt towards India is accentuating strategic imbalance which is fraught with serious risks,” he said.
The Ambassador also emphasized the need for full restoration of Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) and assistance to fight the continued threats from terrorists.
On the Middle East situation, the Ambassador urged the United States to demonstrate its leadership and assert itself.
The Ambassador invited the participants to visit Pakistan and experience for themselves the beauty of the country and its traditional hospitality.
