- News>
- Asia
Musharraf to ask US for trade privileges, debt writeoff
Karachi, June 18: A new trade pact and the waiver of Pakistan`s remaining 1.8 billion dollar debt to Washington will top president Pervez Musharraf`s economic wishlist when he arrives in the US later this week, officials said today.
Karachi, June 18: A new trade pact and the waiver of
Pakistan's remaining 1.8 billion dollar debt to Washington
will top president Pervez Musharraf's economic wishlist when
he arrives in the US later this week, officials said today.
"The proposal of waiving 1.8 billion dollars in loans is
very much part of the agenda of the president's visit to the
US", a spokesman for the government's economic affairs
division said .
"We are quite hopeful of a positive outcome in this regard".
Musharraf heads to the United States from London friday for a nine-day visit that will take him to Washington, Camp David for talks with US President George W Bush, New York, Los Angeles and Boston. Talks with treasury secretary John Snow, World Bank chief James Wolfensohn and an address to the US chamber of commerce underscore the economic priorities in Musharraf's fourth trip to the US since the September 11 terror attacks saw Pakistan and US forge a new closeness.
Pakistan won a slew of financial rewards from Washington for abandoning Afghanistan's Taliban regime and providing pivotal support both to the direct military campaign against them and the ongoing Al-Qaeda hunt.
But Musharraf wants more for his cash-strapped Islamic republic , where the majority of Al-Qaeda members including several big fish have been captured , especially in the form of debt writeoffs and trade privileges.
Bureau Report
"We are quite hopeful of a positive outcome in this regard".
Musharraf heads to the United States from London friday for a nine-day visit that will take him to Washington, Camp David for talks with US President George W Bush, New York, Los Angeles and Boston. Talks with treasury secretary John Snow, World Bank chief James Wolfensohn and an address to the US chamber of commerce underscore the economic priorities in Musharraf's fourth trip to the US since the September 11 terror attacks saw Pakistan and US forge a new closeness.
Pakistan won a slew of financial rewards from Washington for abandoning Afghanistan's Taliban regime and providing pivotal support both to the direct military campaign against them and the ongoing Al-Qaeda hunt.
But Musharraf wants more for his cash-strapped Islamic republic , where the majority of Al-Qaeda members including several big fish have been captured , especially in the form of debt writeoffs and trade privileges.
Bureau Report