Pakistan desires broad-based relations with US: FM Qureshi

Minister says opposition trying to brew storm in cup of tea by trying to forge alliances

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Wednesday that Pakistan desires to have a broad-based and multidimensional relationship with the United States.

The foreign minister's remarks came while he was talking to Pakistan's Ambassador to the US Sardar Masood Khan in Islamabad.

"The government is focusing on geo-economics for the economic stability of the country," he said.

The FM further stressed that the world's attention should be drawn towards the investment opportunities available in Pakistan through economic diplomacy.

Just a day ago, it was reported that Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that Pakistan enjoys good relationship with both China and the United States and wants to play the same “instrumental role of the 1970s” that had brought Washington and Beijing closer.

In an exclusive interview with Liu Xin of CGTN’s The Point, the prime minister emphasised that his priority in Pakistan was the uplift of 220 million people which was also linked with peace and stability.

'Opposition's efforts will fail'

Separately, talking about the opposition parties’ recent huddles, FM Qureshi said that their efforts to oust the incumbent government "will fail’.

“It is like they are trying to brew a storm in a cup of tea,” the minister said in a statement, referring to the PML-N and PPP leaderships' in-person meeting in Lahore on February 5.

“They have also tried to seek support from our [PTI's] various allies but to no avail. They will fail as they did in the past,” he added.

The foreign minister said that the ruling PTI’s coalition partner in Punjab, the PML-Q, had informed the government about their meeting with PPP co-chair and former president Asif Ali Zardari held on Monday.

Read: PM Imran's visit to China 'highly successful': FM Qureshi

“They [the PML-Q] told us that they listened to his political views but did not make any promises,” Qureshi said, adding that Zardari’s ‘mission’ had failed.

Referring to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s decision to launch a mass contact campaign from February 18, the FM stated that there is a tradition in the subcontinent of holding rallies to convey messages to the masses.

“PM Imran made the right decision to hold rallies to convey PTI's point of view to the people,” he said, adding that the government wants to inform the people about the opposition’s "real intentions and goals", and how the ruling party intends to fight them.