Pakistan seeks breakthrough in high-level US trade talks: minister

WASHINGTON ReuteRS

Pakistan is looking for breakthroughs in agriculture and information technology during the first ministerial-level meeting of a US-Pakistani trade and investment body in seven years, the commerce minister said.

Syed Naveed Qamar will meet on Thursday with US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and other senior US officials under the US-Pakistan Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA).

Qamar told Reuters the meeting would strengthen ties between the two countries that he claimed had been strained in recent years by political tensions, and could help boost bilateral trade in goods and services, which Pakistan’s embassy said now totalled about $12 billion.

“It is important that we start talking,” he said. “These were supposed to be annual meetings, but for one reason or another, they have been on the back burner for so long. Now that we are starting, there are many areas where we expect some breakthroughs, and that is on both sides.”

No comment was immediately available from Tai’s office, which included the meeting in its public calendar.

Ties between Islamabad and Washington, once close allies, have just started to warm after some years of frosty relations, following Washington’s humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

Qamar said Pakistan was looking to increase its exports of mangoes to the United States, and ensure smooth, increased trade in information technology and computer programming services. The US side was looking to boost exports of beef and soybeans.

“When we talk about trade, we’re talking about the entire spectrum, but we’re focusing on these things because