ISLAMABAD, Oct 9: The United States ambassador to Pakistan Wendy Chamberlin has said that the US attaches great importance to its relations with Pakistan.

The ambassador was talking to Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Usman Aminuddin during her courtesy call on him here on Tuesday. She also discussed with him matters pertaining to Pakistan-US cooperation in the oil and gas sector.

Ms Chamberlin informed that the United States government had lifted a number of sanctions on Pakistan which would help revive its national economy.

She expressed hope that the US investors would avail the opportunities in the oil, gas and mineral sectors of Pakistan.

During the meeting Mr Aminuddin briefed the US envoy on the ongoing and future development activities in the oil, gas and mineral sectors. He also informed her about the privatization process, salient features of the new onshore and offshore exploration policies and opportunities for the prospective investors.

He said that Pakistan was endowed with the fifth largest coal reserves in the world and the government was focusing specific attention to exploit them as soon as possible with a view to reduce the heavy dependence on oil and gas.

Usman Aminuddin said that a number of US oil and gas companies were successfully operating in Pakistan and were playing a tremendous role in the oil and gas exploration activities.

He invited the US investors to increase their participation in the petroleum and coal sector activities for the mutual benefit.

The minister also briefed the American ambassador on the proposed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan gas pipeline project and said that this project opens up new avenues of multi-dimensional regional cooperation particularly in view of the recent geo-political developments in the region.