ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi is scheduled to travel to the United States on an official visit from the 21st to the 28th of this month.

"Mr Fatemi is scheduled to hold meetings with senior officials in the State Department, Defence Department and the White House to exchange views on bilateral relations," Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam told Dawn.

She said the Pakistani embassy in Washington has also scheduled meetings with prominent Senators and Congressmen from the Foreign Affairs Committees of the two Houses, with a view to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the foreign policy arena.

On July 28, Fatemi will also participate in a UN Security Council debate in New York on “United Nations Peacekeeping: Regional Partnership and its Evolution”.

"Pakistan has a great interest in the subject as one of the largest troop contributing countries," Aslam said.

Fatemi is expected address scholars, researchers and policy planners at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of John Hopkins University on Pakistan’s foreign policy and relations with the United States in the context of the evolving situation in the region.

"Fatemi’s engagements will also include interactions with reporters of important international and local media houses, who are keen on receiving first-hand information on the military operation in North Waziristan against foreign and local militants without any discrimination and distinction," she remarked.