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Pakistan pledged $125mln aid for energy sector: Clinton
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday US pledged 125 million dollar aid to boost energy sector in Pakistan, coupled with allowing Pakistani products to gain access to US markets, Geo news reported.In a joint press briefing with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi here in Washington after holding strategic dialogue with Pakistani delegation, she termed strategic sitting conducive not only for Pakistan but for US administration also.
She pledged US’s assistance to develop agriculture sector in Pakistan besides, extending assistance to maximize export of Pakistan.
“Pakistani products will now have access to US markets”, she said adding that US will provide cooperation in establishment of three thermal power plants to minimize power crisis in Pakistan.
US will help Pakistan expand Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), she said.
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that US suspicions of his country have evaporated, with officials no longer questioning Islamabad's commitment to fight extremism.
Qureshi, who was holding a first-of-a-kind "strategic dialogue" with the United States, said "the mood was completely different" from previous visits to Washington.
"I was at the Senate; I was at the House. It's a 180-degree difference," he told a joint news conference with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
"There were no more question marks, there was no suspicion, there was no 'do more,'" he said. "There was appreciation for what we had already done."
The United States has long voiced concern that elements of Pakistan's powerful military and intelligence service were supporting Taliban insurgents, despite the government's public stance.
Wednesday's dialogue is part of efforts by the United States to show it has a long-term interest in relations with Pakistan beyond cooperation to fight in Afghanistan.
“Pakistan is on the frontline of confronting the violent extremism that threatens us all and Pakistan's civilian and security forces continue to bear the brunt of that fight," Clinton said.
Courtesy www.Geo.tv