Imran-Trump meeting to reduce trust deficit: Pakistani envoy

Pakistan’s ambassador to US Asad Majid Khan says PM Imran will present Islamabad's narrative to Donald Trump

CHICAGO: With Prime Minister Imran Khan set to meet US President Donald Trump this month, Pakistan’s envoy Asad Majid Khan has expressed hope that the two leaders will be able to reduce the current trust deficit between the allies.

He made these remarks in a recent ‘meet and greet’ session with community journalists at the residence of Consul General Pakistan Javed Umrani in Chicago.

Khan was on a two-day visit to the US city, where he met dignitaries and local community leaders.

He also met the Mayor of Bolingbrook Roger Clark, discussing viable economic opportunities between Sialkot and Bolingbrook after they became sister cities.

Answering a question regarding frosty Pak-US ties, he said, "In the globalised world that we live in, you have ups and downs in bilateral ties but that doesn't mean that you don't engage in dialogue".

He said premier Imran would present Islamabad's narrative and shed light on the many serious challenges the country faces in the region.

The Pakistani envoy said the prime minister would convey to Trump that the two countries had enjoyed good relations in the past. "We can do great things if we work together....I'm sure of it," he said.

Khan said the two countries must work to improve their strategic and economic partnership, adding that when it came to peace in Afghanistan, Islamabad and Washington were on the same page. "We [Pakistan] remain an attractive market for US companies due to our favourable demographics," he added.

He said Washington's continuing insistence on seeing bilateral ties from the prism of Pakistan must change, adding that "they must see things from our perspective too".

Khan vowed that Islamabad was making "serious and sincere efforts" to help the Afghan peace process.

Without comprehensive dialogue, he added, sustainable peace would never be achieved.

"We often underestimate the power of citizen exchanges or people to people diplomacy....it's just as important as national leaders engaging in discourse," he said.