WASHINGTON, Feb 8: Agreements on science and technology and on reviving the defence policy group and discussions on further easing the bilateral debt burden are expected to highlight Gen Pervez Musharraf’s visit to the United States next week.
Officials were also said to be working on the outlines of an understanding relating to security of military information, but it was uncertain whether this would be finalized in time for the general’s visit. The US has recently entered into a similar agreement with India.
The general will meet President George Bush at the White House on Feb 13 during a crowded three-day Washington schedule, and will also have discussions with Vice-President Richard Cheney and the secretaries of state, defence and treasury.
Gen Musharraf and President Bush met in New York last November, but next week’s meeting will mark the first White House-level talks between them, and diplomats here say the general’s visit has both a symbolic and a substantive content.
It sets the seal on formal US acceptance of Gen Musharraf, who came to power as the result of a military take-over, as Pakistan’s president, and it comes as part of a re-engagement process between the US and Pakistan, with Washington saying it is looking for a long-term and enduring partnership. The visit will also be the first by a Pakistani leader in a decade when Pakistan is no longer under US-imposed sanctions. In announcing the trip, which it had characterized as an “official working” visit, the White House had said Gen Musharraf’s timetable for elections and Pakistan’s return to democracy would among subjects to be discussed.
A senior State Department official told Dawn on Friday a number of issues would be discussed within the framework of America’s “renewed bilateral relationship” with Pakistan, including cooperation in the coalition’s campaign against terrorism, support for the Afghan interim administration and US assistance for economic and education reforms in Pakistan.
The contours of a new relationship might have begun to emerge even before the events of Sept 11, but the attacks and America’s need for regional allies in its military campaign in Afghanistan accelerated efforts to construct a new bilateral framework. Military-to-military contacts have also been resumed, and $51m of the $350m proposed for Pakistan by the Bush administration for the next financial year are earmarked for foreign military financing and the international military education and training programme.
The India-Pakistan confrontation, with troops of both countries massed on their common border, will be a key issue in the Musharraf-Bush talks, but Pakistan will hope that it will be able to persuade the US to give more attention to its demands for greater market access and lower tariffs for its textile exports. The Bush administration has indicated that it is keen to move on these subjects, but it has been blocked by a strong textile lobby with influence in Congress.
FM’S ABSENCE: Gen Musharraf, who was due to arrive in Boston on Friday for a couple of private days, will be accompanied in Washington by both the finance and commerce ministers, who will have talks with their counterparts before and following the presidential visit. Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar will not be part of the general’s entourage, although he should have normally been prominent during a trip that is being billed as a crucial one. No clear explanation for Mr Sattar’s absence is available here.
Apart from meetings at the White House and with foreign, defence and treasury officials, Gen Musharraf will also have an intensive interaction with Congress, talking to a session representing both leading Democrats and Republicans arranged by the speaker of the House of Representatives and co-hosted by the Democratic leader in the Senate, meeting ranking members of the international affairs committees of both the Senate and the House as well as members on the appropriations committees.
He will also get together with a group of business leaders at Blair House, where he will be staying, and meet the heads of both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
The business group will, according to Pakistan embassy sources, representing several major US corporations and be focused on investment opportunities in Pakistan. The war in Afghanistan and military-to-military bilateral cooperation are expected to dominate talks at the Pentagon, where Gen Musharraf will be given an honour guard.
On Feb 14, the last day of his stay in Washington, Gen Musharraf will be the featured speaker at a National Press Club luncheon. This will be his second public speaking engagement, the first is to be an address at a session jointly convened by the Woodrow Wilson Centre for International Studies and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
The total presidential delegation, including security and personal staff, will number around 16 people. Sehba Musharraf will accompany the general and will be feted at tea by the US first lady, Laura Bush.
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