Clinton Calls for Better Partnership with Pakistan
Washington - The United States seeks to be a partner with Pakistan in economic development and trade, education, health care, energy development and regional security, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says.
Clinton, who wrapped up a three-day visit to
Pakistan October 30, told business leaders at a roundtable
discussion in Lahore that the United States is proud and
pleased to be Pakistan's largest trading partner and its
largest foreign investor. "We have seen the opportunities
for investment and growth," she added.
She
acknowledged that it is difficult for the business community
- which creates the jobs, creates the businesses and makes
the investments - to flourish in an unstable environment
created by an insurgency that has spilled over from
neighboring Afghanistan. She said the United States sees
several ways to help create more jobs in Pakistan, which
will directly affect the standard of living.
One is
through direct programs such as the creation of
reconstruction opportunity zones which can open market
access to the United States, Clinton said. "We are working
to accelerate this approach because it's essential that we
provide more assistance in trade and investment and help to
improve the environment for you to do more
business."
Another is to encourage the government to
do more through trade agreements, she said, and not just
with the United States but with the immediate region and
beyond.
Clinton also said that through a $125 million
U.S. energy initiative, which she announced October 28 in
Islamabad, the Pakistani government will help eliminate
rolling energy blackouts by repairing facilities, repairing
dams and improving local energy providers, and help to
refurbish more than 10,000 tube wells to enhance local
agriculture through reliable irrigation.
Clinton told
business leaders that for any society to flourish in the
21st century, it must build a nation on three supporting
pillars: a fully inclusive democratic political system, a
market economy and a civil society.
UNIVERSITY
STUDENTS
Clinton said in remarks to students at the
Government College University in Lahore October 29 that as
crucial as security issues are between the United States and
Pakistan, they are not the only element in the
relationship.
"They are just one piece of a much
broader partnership, one that we hope will improve the lives
of people in both our nations in many ways," she said. "How
many children who are denied an education or denied health
care might have excelled at this great university, perhaps
even joining the ranks of your Nobel laureate?"
"We
don't know, because although talent is universal,
opportunity is not."
Clinton said the Obama
administration is placing heavy emphasis on approaches such
as increasing access to education, supporting entrepreneurs,
using microfinance and technology to connect and empower
people, and increasing energy supplies so the economy has
the resources it needs to thrive.
"We are committed to
working with you as true partners, and that means, first and
foremost, listening and consulting with one another,"
Clinton said. "This is an opportunity for us to reaffirm our
partnership and to turn the page on some of the past that,
frankly, represent lost opportunities to strengthen the
relationship between us."
One of those efforts,
Clinton said, is to expand university and technical
education through a $45 million grant to Pakistan's Higher Education
Commission. It is primarily targeted to students coming from
economically vulnerable areas, she said.
MIDDLE EAST
PEACE
In addition to Clinton's three-day visit to
Pakistan for consultations with government officials and
outreach to university students, business leaders and tribal
representatives, she will also conduct negotiations with
Israeli and Palestinian Authority officials in hopes of
renewing stalled peace talks. She was scheduled to fly to
Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates for a meeting October
31 with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. She
is also expected to consult with Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu.
"These meetings will build on the
intensive work the administration has engaged in with both
sides since the trilateral meeting last month," State
Department spokesman Ian Kelly said October 29 in
Washington.
"As President Obama has said, the
administration is committed to comprehensive peace,
including a two-state solution. As Secretary Clinton
reported to the president last week, challenges remain as we
continue to work with both sides," Kelly said. "Her visit
reflects the administration's commitment, and her personal
commitment, to work through the challenges we face in
pursuit of comprehensive Middle East peace."
Clinton
will conclude her travel November 2-3 at the 6th Forum for
the Future in Marrakesh, Morocco.
(Distributed by the
Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov).
ENDS