‘Political situation in Pakistan not to affect Pak-US ties’

The United States values the long-standing cooperation with Pakistan, and the political situation or rapid changes in the government does not affect it,  said a senior State Department official in an exclusive chat with ARY News.

The chat with the US officials was about the recently held “Health Dialogue” with the Pakistani delegation focused on establishing a Pakistani CDC and providing US funding to support childhood immunization, maternal and child health, COVID-19 relief efforts, and non-communicable disease diagnostics.

“We value the long-standing cooperation with Pakistan in many fields. And this year marks the 75th anniversary commemorating 75 years of bilateral relations we’ve had. There have been strong health connections in the health field for at least two decades,” the official said.
“We really look forward to strengthening and expanding our ties economically. Private sector trade and investment areas like renewable energy, agricultural trade and, overcoming some of the challenges, overcoming some of those challenges to expand the commerce between our two countries”.

“I think that whichever government is then is in power in office. You know, we really look at our cooperation with Pakistan as continuing to be important. We view a strong, prosperous, and democratic Pakistan as critical to US interests,” said the senior official when asked about the rapid political changes in Pakistan.

“In other areas where we continue to cooperate are integrating women into the economy in Pakistan through the US Pakistan Women’s Council. Our Ambassador is very interested in focusing on energy issues in all of economic and health and environmental science and technology issues that are continuing to grow and strengthen, you know, no matter the other political context”.

Sharing the details of the meeting with Pakistani counterparts, the State Department official said that one of the things highlighted during the discussion was the donation of mobile testing labs through us, the Pakistan National Institute of Health. These labs are worth $4.6 million and will be used to strengthen Pakistan’s ability to diagnose COVID 19 and other communicable diseases, especially in remote and underserved areas.

The United States and Pakistan hosted the US-Pakistan Health Dialogue at the US Department of State in Washington, DC, to further deepen the robust bilateral health sector cooperation. The US side was co-led by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Assistant Administrator for Global Health Atul Gawande and US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Assistant Secretary for Global Affairs Loyce Pace. It also included representation from the Department of State, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Federal Minister of National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination Abdul Qadir Patel led the Pakistan delegation, which included officials from the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan, the Federal Directorate of Immunization, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The Health Dialogue is an example of the strong ties between the United States and Pakistan and highlights the depth and breadth of our bilateral relationship, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year,” a press release issued by the state department said.

During the dialogue, the United States also announced it was donating 16 million doses of pediatric vaccines for COVID-19 to Pakistan in partnership with COVAX, on top of the 61.5 million adult vaccine doses already donated. An additional $20 million in USAID funding is also planned to support vaccination efforts.