Shehbaz Sharif-Donald Trump meeting likely next week, after US President hosted Pakistani Army chief: Report
Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif is set to meet Donald Trump on September 25, with discussions on regional issues including floods and Israel-Qatar situation.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is likely to hold a meeting with United States President Donald Trump on September 25 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Geo TV reported, citing unnamed sources on Tuesday.
Qatar and Saudi Arabia have extended their support to the Shehbaz-Trump meeting, which will also be attended by Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir.
The report added that the meeting may have a wide agenda, including discussions on floods in Pakistan, the Pakistan-India situation, and the repercussions of the Israeli attack on Qatar.
The development comes months after General Asim Munir held a rare one-on-one meeting with Donald Trump, where the two reportedly discussed regional security, counter-terrorism efforts and ways to enhance defence cooperation.
The June meeting came after Pakistan's armed conflict with India in May.
According to Geo TV, Pakistan’s embassy has, so far, avoided commenting on or denying the possibility of the Sharif-Trump. The prospective development comes at a time of steadily improving ties between Islamabad and Washington, particularly
On Sunday, deputy prime minister and foreign minister Ishaq Dar reportedly held a telephonic conversation with US secretary of state Marco Rubio, where both reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen Pakistan-US ties across diverse areas of cooperation. The two had earlier met in July, after which Islamabad and Washington announced a trade agreement aimed at expanding market access, attracting investment, and reducing tariffs, particularly on Pakistani exports to the US.
The deal also included fresh cooperation in energy, with a focus on developing oil reserves.
The development from Pakistan comes even as the US and India are stepping up talks to resolve their trade tensions, with two separate teams of officials meeting in New Delhi this week.
The Indian team began talks on Tuesday morning with the visiting US trade delegation led by Brendan Lynch, assistant trade representative for South and Central Asia. The talks are expected to stretch late into the evening.
Separately, US defence officials and Boeing Co. executives are also due in India this week to negotiate the sale of about $4 billion of naval surveillance aircraft.
The meeting between the trade teams is expected to decide the future course of India-US negotiations, India’s chief negotiator Rajesh Agrawal said on Monday.
The two sides are seeking to resolve their differences after President Donald Trump imposed India with a 50 per cent tariff last month, the highest in Asia, to penalise the country for its trade barriers and Russian oil purchases.
According to Bloomberg, New Delhi is responding to the visits with cautious optimism, indicating that more needs to be done to reset ties. The US and India had previously committed to a bilateral agreement to be completed by the fall of this year.
