KARACHI, Jan 16: While there is a struggle in the US to define its longterm interest in Pakistan, it is better if the relationship can focus less on government policies and more on private investment which serves the interest of both countries, said Dr George Perkovich, vice president for studies and director of the nuclear policy programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, on Monday.

Private partnerships do not come with the strings of 'sovereignty' and 'politics' attached to them, Dr Perkovich added, while speaking at a discussion programme organized by the Pakistan Institute of International Affairs on its premises.

Along with the scholar, Toby Dalton, deputy director of the nuclear policy programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, participated in the conversation with the Pakistanis representing both citizens and different interest groups.

The discussion mainly covered topics such as the energy crisis, security objectives, and the future of USPakistan relations. The two speakersshowed both understanding and interest in the local perspective, while acknowledging the challenges of a difficult relationship.

It was discussed that Pakistan had been filling a security objective for the US to varying degree since the Cold War the focal point being the Pakistani military as opposed to the civilian government.

In recent years, the US had attempted to change this (the Kerry-LugarBreman Bill being one such example).

Dr Perkovich believes the relationship based around government policy and aid has its recriminations which he said was less the case in the private sector that served the mutual interest of contracting parties. 'Unfortunately, the US President does not fly to Pakistan as he does to India with a plane full of business executives.

'Not many people want to come due to the security issues,' he added.

'Although India and Turkey also have their internal problems, they don't get as much negative coverage due to the inner mobilisation which produces positive stories within the country which then get exported'.

The speakers took a strong interestin the energy crisis the country is currently facing. 'A Rs360 billion debt is crippling,' said Mr Dalton, adding that it's a very hard problem to get one's head around. 'Where do you start? And what should be the US role in the energy crisis?' Pakistan has the option of exploiting coal from Thar or developing the IranPakistan-India gas pipeline, but so far these have been dismissed by the US government the first due to environmental concerns and the second due to American tensions with Iran.

'The US tends to view Pakistan through various prisms such as the Afghan or Soviet prisms,' said Mr Dalton.

'The country rarely gets taken at its own merit.

But the problem is also technical in nature. It does not look very feasible for Pakistan to exploit nuclear capabilities either.

'Firstly, there are 45 countries in the nuclear suppliers group and getting all of them to agree on this is difficult,' Dr Perkovich said.

'Secondly, reactors cost about $4 billion per plant. The chances of companies willing to agree on building aplant in Pakistan are low as they would be concerned about not being paid back,' he added.

Although the speakers expressed their interest in getting concrete ideas, they were at the same time hesitant in accepting them.

A member of the audience pointed out that Pakistan had not been exploiting its solar or wind generated energy capacity and gave concrete figures as to output and cost. 'A solar plant will cost about $475 million and its development would be easy to monitor.

Given that Pakistan does not have the capital cost for financing most of these projects and given the US needs to improve its image in the region, transferring funds there would make sense.

'But how do you brand things which would help change people's perceptions without endangering those very things?' said Mr Dalton, expressing his fear that American-financed construction projects could be targeted by terrorists.

The speakers and the audience had not necessarily an optimistic but a hopeful attitude towards future relations between the two countries.