June 4, 2003	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 3, 1424

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WASHINGTON, June 3: The US is expected to offer Pakistan an economic package during President Pervez Musharraf’s forthcoming visit, Foreign Secretary Riaz H. Khokhar told reporters on Monday.

Mr Khokhar, who was in Washington to discuss the agenda for the presidential visit, said experts from both the countries were already working serializing the package. He refused to disclose details.

President Musharraf is scheduled to meet President George Bush on June 24 at the presidential resort of Camp David and would later spend two days in Washington meeting senior officials and lawmakers.

“The Americans are working on some sort of a package. They haven’t spelt out its clinical details but have implied to us that it will be worthwhile,” said Mr Khokhar. He said Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz recently discussed the proposed package with Under Secretary of State for Economic Affair Alan Larson.

Mr Khokhar also said the US had told Pakistan that it tried but could not prevent Israel from selling Phalcon airborne warning system to India.

“We did raise this issue with US officials and told them how this will affect the conventional balance between India and Pakistan,” said Mr Khokhar. “We also told them that it was not a helpful development.”

Asked how the Americans reacted to Pakistan’s concerns, Mr Khokhar said the Americans told him that “they had resisted the sale but could not have done more. This is really between Israel and India.

The US administration, however, “has taken note of our concerns,” he said.

The foreign secretary said he also briefed officials on recent developments in South Asia, particularly the move for improving India-Pakistan relations.

“We briefly touched on the situation in Afghanistan and Iraq as well.”

He said that Pakistan appreciates “the helpful role” the US administration has played in “initiating the process of dialogue between India and Pakistan.”

“The process is still slow because both sides are being cautious,” he added.

Mr Khokhar said that Pakistan’s newly appointed envoy for New Delhi, Aziz Ahmad Khan, would take up his position by the middle of this month and expected the Indian envoy to be in Islamabad in the first half of July.

Mr Khokhar said the Foreign Office had not yet appointed a high commissioner for London. “We still have four names before us and have to select one,” said Mr Khokhar.