US ambassador to Pakistan Richard Olson meets PM Nawaz Sharif ahead of State Secretary John Kerry's visit

ISLAMABAD: US ambassador to Pakistan, Richard Olson today met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and discussed the upcoming visit of Secretary of State John Kerry for the bilateral strategic dialogue.

Kerry will lead the US side in the strategic dialogue meeting scheduled to be held on January 14 in Islamabad.

Prime Minister's House in a statement said that Olson discussed the visit and bilateral relations with Sharif.

"Matters relating with Pak-US relations with particular reference to the upcoming expected visit of US Secretary of State, Mr John Kerry, came under discussion," it said.

Federal Minister for Finance, Ishaq Dar and Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Tariq Fatemi also attended the meeting.

Officials said that the two sides finalised the agenda of the high level meetings with Kerry during the trip.

The Pakistan-US strategic dialogue was resumed in 2013. It was launched in 2010 but was suspended due to acrimony after US commandos killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a covert mission in May, 2011 in Abbottabad.

The strategic dialogue covers five areas: energy; security, strategic stability and non-proliferation; the defence consultative group; law-enforcement and counter-terrorism; and economy and finance.