May 17, 2003	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 14, 1424

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WASHINGTON, May 16: Pakistan and the United States are expected to work out a five-year economic package when President Pervez Musharraf visits the country in the third week of June, diplomatic sources said on Friday.

Besides seeking additional economic assistance, the proposed package will look at the possibility of enhancing US investment in Pakistan and improving bilateral trade.

It will also seek US support for increasing Pakistan’s defence, the sources said.

“We are looking at a long-term, multi-tier economic relationship,” said Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri when asked to comment on the proposed package. “Details will be worked out during the president’s visit,” he added.

The president, he said, is coming with an “entire team” of financial experts and this will “prove to be a very significant and fruitful visit for Pakistan.”

Pakistan, he said, also expects the United States to waive the remaining $2 billion of a bilateral debt. The United States has already written off $1 billion since Sept 11, 2001, when Pakistan joined the US-led war against terror.

President Musharraf is expected to meet President George W. Bush on June 24 in Washington although the date may be changed if the meeting shifts to the US presidential resort of Camp David.

Later, the foreign minister told a news conference at the embassy in Washington that the dispute over the LFO and other issues may also be settled before his visit to the United States.

While he acknowledged that during his visit, US officials went out of their way to praise President Musharraf, Mr Kasuri rejected the suggestion that Washington was trying to send a message to Islamabad that in this dispute between the president and the opposition, the United States was with the general.

“They respect President Musharraf as a leader and a statesman and we hope that the June visit will further strengthen bilateral relations,” he said.

The foreign minister said Pakistan was sincere in its efforts to improve relations with India and that’s why he did not want to say anything that could hurt the ongoing peace process.

Mr Kasuri dismissed reports that Washington had presented India and Pakistan with a roadmap to resolve the Kashmir issue as “completely wrong.” The Americans, he said, were helping India and Pakistan in reducing their tensions but “they are not telling us what to do. We are not puppets and we are not dancing on their tune.