NEW YORK, Sept 26: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will meet US President Barack Obama at the White House on Oct 23, US and Pakistani officials announced on Thursday.

The announcement followed a meeting between Prime Minister Sharif and US Secretary of State John Kerry in New York earlier in the day.

“On Wednesday, October 23, President Obama will welcome Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan to the White House. The visit will highlight the importance and resilience of the US-Pakistan relationship,” the White House said.

The meeting will also provide an opportunity to the two countries “to strengthen cooperation on issues of mutual concern, such as energy, trade and economic development, regional stability, and countering violent extremism,” the White House said. In a separate statement, a spokesman for the prime minister said the meeting between Mr Sharif and Secretary Kerry focused on rebuilding US-Pakistan relations after recent tensions, which sometimes threatened to derail this important relationship.

The two sides reviewed the state of bilateral relationship and agreed to “intensify the engagements in the coming weeks and months to further expand and deepen bilateral cooperation in all areas,” the statement said. It was also agreed to convene meetings of the various working groups under the revived Strategic Dialogue mechanism.

During the meeting the prime minister noted that improvement in security, revival of economy and overcoming the energy crisis were the key priorities of his government.

He also emphasised that greater trade between Pakistan and the US would contribute to the economic prosperity of the people of Pakistan.

Secretary Kerry extended a formal invitation to the prime minister from President Obama to visit Washington.

He stressed that this high-level interaction would “provide the necessary impetus to move towards a long-term Pakistan-US engagement.” The prime minister was pleased to accept the invitation.

At an earlier briefing, a spokesman for the prime minister told Pakistani journalists that Mr Sharif and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh were likely to “discuss a whole range of issues” when they meet in New York on Sunday.

Both sides have now confirmed the meeting and the Indian prime minister has also rejected a suggestion from some opposition parties to cancel the talks in retaliation for a militant attack on Indian troops in Kashmir earlier Thursday.

Asked to comment on an Indian official’s comments that Mr Singh would focus on the issue of cross-border terrorist attacks in his meeting with Mr Sharif, the Pakistani official said, “terrorism is as much an issue of concern to Pakistan as it is to India”.

He said that this menace could “be dealt more effectively if the two countries cooperate” with each other.

“All issues concerning India, Pakistan relations are important” and both sides should make efforts to resolve them.

Emphasising the need for reviving the process of composite dialogue between the two countries, the official said that by talking to each other “we can serve our people better”.

On Wednesday evening, Prime Minister Sharif also attended a meeting on education in Pakistan, hosted by former British prime minister Gordon Brown.

Malala Yousufzai, who has become an international symbol for women’s education, also attended the meeting.

Noting her presence, the prime minister said it was a great source of strength for Pakistan that one of its daughters had become a beacon of hope for others.

Mr Sharif said his government was determined to reach the Unesco target of four per cent of the GDP allocation to education by 2018.

“We seek to build a society that is based on social justice — a society that ensures wellbeing of all Pakistanis without any discrimination,” he said.

The prime minister said he believed that universal education was essential to achieve both of these goals.

He noted that more than half of the population in Pakistan was below the age of 25 and if educated and properly trained, they can become the driving force for progress and prosperity.

He said that Pakistan had already taken a historic step to make the Right to Education a fundamental right.

“My vision is to build an education system that enables us to benefit from the 21st century knowledge economy and promotes creativity, critical thinking and innovation,” he said.