In this Sept 10, 2010 photo, the flag of Pakistan representing a 9-11 victim from the country, flies among American flags placed in the ground to honor the victims of the Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, USA. The Commerce Minister of Pakistan said on Tuesday that the country was 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.
Commerce Minister Syed Naveed Qamar and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and other senior US officials will be in Washington on Thursday, according to the US-Pakistan Trade and Investment Framework Agreement TIFA Qamar, which will boost bilateral trade in goods and services, which the Pakistani embassy said has now totaled about $12 billion, according to the US-Pakistan Trade and Investment Framework Agreement.
He said it is important that we start talking. These were supposed to be annual meetings, but for one reason or another they have been on the back burner for so long. There are many areas where we expect to see some breakthroughs, and that is on both sides of the table. There was no immediate response from Tai's office, which included the meeting in its public calendar.
Qamar said that Pakistan was looking to increase its mango exports to the US, as well as increase 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 whole spectrum, but we're focusing on these things because that's where things would start happening right away, he said.
After a long lull, he said that Pakistan wanted to attract more US investment, with a focus on IT and pharmaceuticals. What we don't want to happen is for one country to have an open field. He said that we want this to be an open competitive environment.
Pakistan was well-placed to help diversify US supply chains. It could serve as a gateway to Central Asia, Qamar said.