LAHORE: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Prof Ahsan Iqbal said on Saturday that foreign policy of a country was based on its national interest and Pakistan woould have to maintain its relations with the USA keeping in view the current regional situation.
He expressed these views while speaking at a seminar on ‘New American Administration and Pakistan’s Strategy’ organized by Pakistan Institute of National Affairs (PINA) here at Quaid-i-Azam Library.
PINA President Altaf Hassan Qureshi, SM Zaffar, Sajjad Mir and other prominent personalities also spoke on the occasion.
Ahsan was of the view that Pakistan and other countries had no option about Donald Trump, who is now elected President of America. Keeping this fact in view, Pakistan will have to reassess its policies to continue with its relations with the US under new administration of Donald Trump.
There was no permanent friendship or permanent enmity in foreign policy since it based purely on national interest of respective countries, he said, adding that US and Pakistan have commonalities in their national interests and policies as both want elimination of terrorism, ISIS and establishing durable peace in Afghanistan, therefore, both can move forward in this direction. He said job creation was another priority of the US government and Pakistan could play its role in development of American industry while becoming part of its high chain supply and value addition on win-win basis. Pakistan should attract major US companies by ending the policy of traditional thinking and sentiments and formulating foreign policies based more on economic development, he said and asserted that it would also promote trade diplomacy between the two countries. Ahsan mentioned that Donald Trump had also expressed his resolve to improve further relations with Pakistan during his telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif as well as with Pakistan Ambassador in America. This message, he hoped, will give new direction and impetus to Pak-US bilateral ties.
The minister said the US had always been remained a ‘knowledge economy’ and its universities had greater impact on the global economies, citing that Japan, Malaysia, Iran, Russia, China and many other countries managed to rank themselves in the developed countries by taking optimum benefits of knowledge from US varsities.
He mentioned that first time in history of Pakistan, Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif announced a comprehensive programme for Pakistan students to get admission in US varsities in various fields.—APP
