Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf to visit US in December

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf is likely to have his first interaction with officials of the US administration when he visits New York in December to join events marking Pakistan's entry as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Pakistan will join the Security Council as a non-permanent member on January 1 and the premier is likely to travel to New York to participate in events marking the occasion, Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani was quoted as saying by The News daily.

The report further said US President Barack Obama, who has been re-elected for a second term, was expected to visit Pakistan in the middle of next year but did not give any details.

The Pakistan-US Defence Consultative Group is scheduled to meet in Islamabad on December 3 after a long gap. The two sides recently resumed talks between several joint working groups.

Pakistan's Defence Secretary Lt Gen (retired) Asif Yaseen Malik is currently visiting Washington while Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh is expected to travel to the US next week for a meeting on economic and financial cooperation.

The two countries are expected to revive their stalled Strategic Dialogue next year.

The dialogue has been on hold for almost a year after bilateral ties were hit by a string of crises, including the unilateral American military raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad in May last year.

Five joint working groups held meetings in Washington last month and the JWGs on nuclear security, counter-terrorism, agriculture and energy are expected to meet in Islamabad in Islamabad in December.