Washington, (Samajweekly) Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that Pakistan-US ties are no longer hyphenated with Afghanistan and India as Washington and Islamabad are discussing ways to enhance trade and economic cooperation between the two countries, media reports said.
“Not only I am presently surprised, but I am absolutely impressed by the new foreign policy approach of the US towards Pakistan,” said Bilawal while responding to a question related to Pakistan-US ties at the Wilson Centre in Washington, Express Tribune reported.
“There is also an increased feeling in our [Pak-US] interaction that we are no longer hyphenated � Af-Pak or Pak-India. Only Pak-US that’s a good thing,” he said, as per the report.
Bilawal said Pakistan and US have for a long time seen each other through the prism of Afghanistan.
“It is heartening to know that [this time] during engagements with [US officials], we just didn’t think and talk about Afghanistan. We talked about enhancing trade and economic cooperation,” he said.
Bilawal also cited a recent visit of US Special Representative on Business and Commercial Affairs Dilawar Syed to Pakistan, saying that bilateral ties between the two countries were improving.
“We had an incredibly pleasant conversation not only recently but from the first day I took over as foreign minister,” said Bilawal while responding to a question about his meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
