ISLAMABAD: United States President Donald Trump promised to visit Pakistan in the foreseeable future during his hour-long meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan in Davos, said Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday.
According to an official statement released by the country’s foreign office, Qureshi said that Pakistan’s prime minister briefed the US president on the measures taken by his administration to satisfy the Financial Action Task Force and sought US support to get Pakistan off the international financial watchdog’s grey list.
Khan also asked the American leader to revisit his country’s travel advisory to Pakistan since that would help the tourism industry in the South Asian country and said that the two sides must try to enhance the quantum of trade between them.
It was also decided during the meeting that an American trade delegation would soon visit Pakistan.
The Pakistani prime minister met with the US president on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday where the two discussed the Afghan peace process and the ongoing situation in Kashmir.
Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan Media Talk with US President Donald Trump at World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland (21.01.20)#PrimeMinisterImranKhan #Pakistan #USA #Kashmir #WEF20 @ImranKhanPTI pic.twitter.com/5GiRjidvss
— Prime Minister's Office, Pakistan (@PakPMO) January 21, 2020
In a brief address to the media, Trump said that the US was watching the developments between India and Pakistan over Kashmir “very closely,” and that Washington was prepared to help in the matter, if necessary.
“We were talking about Kashmir in relation to what’s going on with Pakistan and India that we can help, so certainly we’ll be helping. We are watching (developments) and following very closely,” Trump said, without adding any further details.
Khan, for his part, said that Afghanistan had been the “main issue... because it concerns the US and Pakistan.”
“Both of us are interested in peace there and an orderly transition in Afghanistan with talks with the Taliban and the government,” he said.
Khan arrived in Davos on Tuesday where he is expected to hold talks with several world leaders on the sidelines of the forum which ends on January 23. His meeting with Trump was the third leadership-level interaction between Pakistan and the US since Khan’s visit to Washington in July last year.
He is visiting Davos on the invitation of Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the WEF, and is being accompanied by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Adviser on Commerce Abdul Razaq Dawood, and his special assistants Syed Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari and Dr. Moeed Yusuf for the trip.
The significance of his visit was further highlighted by a Time magazine cover — which features the Pakistani premier alongside four other world leaders in the publication’s special edition of the WEF — which released on Monday.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the WEF.
Khan’s office said that in keeping with this milestone, political leaders, business executives, heads of international organizations and civil society representatives will deliberate on contemporary economic, geopolitical, social and environmental issues.
