Amb Masood Khan Explores Closer Ties in Trade, Investment, and Friendship during SoCal Visit
By Elaine Pasquini

Washington: In an event-packed three days in Southern California last week,  Masood Khan, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, met with a diverse group of California government officials, elected representatives, and mayors, in addition to Pakistani-American leaders in the area, to explore closer ties between California and Pakistan.

In productive discussions with California’s Lt Governor Eleni Kounalakis, Khan stressed the importance of furthering the Punjab-California Sister-State relationship and strengthening their working relations in many areas, including agriculture, a sector important to both Pakistan and California.

“Pakistan seeks United States’ expertise and technology in agriculture modernization, hybrid seed development, and climate-smart crops,” Ambassador Khan said, noting that Pakistan and the United States have a longstanding cooperation in the agricultural sector.

Khan and Kounalakis also discussed collaboration on information technology and energy, an additional two sectors of extreme importance to both countries. The ambassador pointed out Pakistan’s close relationship with Silicon Valley and noted that many American and Pakistani-American firms were investing in Pakistan’s tech sector.

“Similarly, there is huge potential of broadening the scope of cooperation in new energies and the renewable energy sector,” he observed. In addition, universities in the two countries are “intertwined,” and, in particular, the Agriculture University Faisalabad has multifaceted cooperation with its US partner school, the University of California at Davis, in the fields of horticulture and animal science.

Kounalakis appreciated Ambassador Khan’s remarks and offered her full support in cementing bilateral cooperation between Pakistan and California in the agriculture sector, among others.

The Lt Governor also offered assistance in placing popular Pakistani film content on Netflix in order to promote cultural and people-to-people ties between Pakistan and the United States.

During his visit, Ambassador Khan was the guest of honor at a World Affairs Council of Orange County (WAC) luncheon where he spoke to a large number of professionals and diaspora leaders and underlined that Pak-US relations have a bright future. He invited US businesses to invest in Pakistan in the priority sectors of IT, agriculture, energy, and extractive industries.

On global issues, the ambassador stressed that Pakistan did not want to choose between the United States and China but could serve as an interactive bridge between the two countries.

Pakistan is a young nation with 64 percent of its 241 million people below the age of 30, Khan pointed out. “And with over 300 universities in the country, we are investing in education for our youth to equip them with skills that will ultimately contribute to the economy of Pakistan,” he said. California has a sizeable Pakistani-American community and “we connect with California in so many ways.”

But, he added, there is a need to enhance understanding between Pakistan and the United States and to remove some existing misconceptions. This could be done, he suggested, through robust people-to-people exchanges of students, academics, lawmakers, government officials, traders and investors.

Also at the WAC program, the ambassador underscored the importance of Pak-US relations, noting the cooperation between the two countries in the fields of education, agriculture, and manufacturing dates back to the time of Pakistan’s independence in 1947.

Last year, Pakistan’s tech exports to the United States reached $1.4 billion, he related, which highlights the close ties between the two nations in that important sector.

Venture capital firms from Silicon Valley are currently investing heavily in Pakistan, the ambassador said, stressing the need to build on this momentum which can act as a “catalyst” for investments between Pakistan and the United States.

The ambassador praised various initiatives being taken by the US and Pakistan to improve Pakistan’s educational system through a $19 million, five-year USAID (United States Agency for International Development) program.

One highlight of the ambassador’s trip was a visit to the California headquarters of SpaceX and a tour of the Starlink manufacturing facility where he was briefed on its global operations. Ambassador Khan lauded SpaceX’s spirit of innovation and technological advancements.

The ambassador also held meetings with Maria S. Salinas, president of the LA Area Chamber of Commerce, and its board members, along with Pakistani-American entrepreneurs from the Pakistan American Chamber of Commerce.

Proposing a sister-city partnership between Los Angeles and Karachi for enhanced economic interactions, the ambassador told Ms Salinas that Pakistan is already hosting some 80 American enterprises, mostly Fortune 500, such as Pepsi, Coca-Cola, General Electric, Abbot, Oracle, Microsoft, Dell and IBM, among others. “They find our market rewarding,” he said. “We want US companies to scale up their investments in Pakistan.” The ambassador invited her, the board members, and US businesspeople to visit Pakistan. A visit, he suggested, would provide them with a positive perception of the country and build confidence in conducting business in the strategically located nation.

On his final night in Southern California, Ambassador Khan was honored at a Friends of Pakistan event hosted by FOP President Jamal Khawaja and Chairman Arif Mansuri, president of PL Publications LLC, the publisher of Pakistan Link. Thanking them and all the board members of FOP for organizing the meet-and-greet evening with the large crowd of Pakistani Americans, Ambassador Khan stated he was “delighted to see the exemplary spirit of unity and harmony among the diaspora and their passion and commitment for Pakistan, the US, and US-Pak relations.”

Asim Ali Khan, Pakistan’s Consul General in Los Angeles, accompanied the ambassador on his many meetings and outings in the area, as well as hosting productive engagements with business leaders, entrepreneurs, bankers, professionals, and officials at the Consulate General in Los Angeles. Ambassador Khan highlighted the presence of the 150,000 Pakistani-American community in LA, noting it was a strong foundation to further build on bilateral relations. In addition, “Pakistan values the contribution of the one million-strong Pakistani-American community across the United States which is a bridge between the two countries.”

Pakistan is a country with a future, the ambassador said. “We will succeed because of our national determination, the support from the Pakistani diaspora, and the backing from our friends like the United States.”

(Elaine Pasquini is a freelance journalist. Her reports appear in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and Nuze.Ink.)