Pakistan looking forward to work with Trump: Pak envoy

Islamabad: Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States Jalil Abbas Jilani has said that Islamabad is looking forward to working closely with the Trump administration.

Ambassador Jilani made these remarks during a New Year luncheon hosted by the Embassy of Pakistan for Washington based print and electronic media.

He welcomed the mainstream US correspondents and briefed them on the state of Pak-US relations emphasizing that Pakistan and United States had a historic nature of relationship spanning over seven decades.

The envoy said those people who had been designated in the new US administration, knew Pakistan very well and there had been a better realization of the problems Islamabad was facing in the region.

"Moreover, there was a convergence of interests between the two countries on number of issues likely to strengthen the bilateral relations in future," he said.

Ambassador Jilani remarked that Pakistan had successfully launched a campaign of historical proportion to address the menace of terrorism.

He expressed the hope that Pak-US cooperation would be further strengthened in the fight against terrorism by revisiting sale of F-16s and Coalition Fund issues.

The Ambassador said that over the last few years, the terrorist incidents in Pakistan had reduced significantly, approx. by 70% with a positive impact on economy.

He highlighted the surge in the number of visitors from US to Pakistan which symbolized a renewed interest in Pakistan.

Jilani stressed on Pakistan's firm belief in having a closer cooperation in the region.

He contended that the emergence of extremist and violent organizations was the outcome of instability & violence all over the world.

While responding to a question, Jilani reiterated that Pakistan had not seen any organized presence of ISIS in Pakistan. However, Pakistan was concerned about the growing influence of ISIS in Afghanistan.

On Indus Water Treaty, the envoy said Pakistan had requested the World Bank to play the role of an administrator in terms of the legal and technical objections raised by Pakistan on Kishan Ganga and Ratle hydro-power projects in India.

He reiterated that Pakistan would like to engage in a sustained, meaningful dialogue with India in order to resolve all the outstanding issues peacefully.