WASHINGTON, June 21: President Gen Pervez Musharraf, who arrived in the United States on Friday, is quietly spending the weekend with his family in Boston.
He begins his official visit from Jan 24 when he is scheduled to meet President George W. Bush at Camp David, near Washington.
The president has come with a small entourage comprising Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz, adviser for foreign affairs and national security Sharifuddin Pirzada, and chairman Human Development Foundation Nasim Ashraf. Foreign Secretary Riaz M. Khokhar and Information Secretary Syed Anwar Mahmood, two additional secretaries from the Finance Ministry and the Presidential Secretariat, are also accompanying the president.
The visit is expected to focus on economic issues, although other issues such as recent moves to India-Pakistan relations may also come under discussion during the talks.
Pakistan and the United States are expected to sign two agreements, trade and investment framework agreement (TIFA) and another for technology transfer, during the visit.
Pakistan officials are expecting the signing of TIFA and describing it a major achievement because, they say, it would lead to a free trade agreement with the United States as well.
“The talks would focus specifically on enhancing Pakistan’s access to US market and the transfer of technology from the United States to Pakistan,” said a senior Pakistan diplomat.
“Issues like the joint efforts to fight terrorism, recent moves for improving India-Pakistan relations, the need for strengthening the Hamid Karzai government in Afghanistan will also be on high on their agenda when the two presidents meet,” he said.
The president, the diplomat said, is also expected to discuss the possibility of reviving the sale of F-16 jetfighters to Pakistan but no decision is expected during the visit.
The issue will be discussed later at the third meeting of the joint Defence Consultative Council, which meets in Washington this summer.
Meanwhile, in a front page report, the Washington Post, reported that officials of the Bush administration remain “deeply concerned” about cross-border attacks in Kashmir and the use of Pakistan’s border areas by resurgent elements of the Taliban fighting the American-backed forces in Afghanistan. “Both topics are likely to figure prominently in talks between Musharraf and President Bush scheduled for Tuesday at Camp David”, the Post said.
In another development, a government-funded US commission has asked President Bush to press President Musharraf on religious freedom when they meet on Tuesday.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom, which is appointed by the president and funded by the US Congress, said in a letter to Mr. Bush the Pakistani government’s measures to protect non-Muslims from violence or bring attackers to justice had been “wholly inadequate.”
The letter cited legislation by the Islamist-dominated legislature in the North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan, the use of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws and discrimination against the Ahmadi sect.
