WASHINGTON, July 24: Pakistan's foreign and economic policies have been impressive and the economic turnaround gives us reason to hope that exciting times lie ahead, says ambassador Ashraf Jehangir Qazi.

He said this while addressing the IFC roundtable on Pakistan here on Friday.

Ambassador Qazi, who has been appointed as UN Secretary- General's special representative for Iraq, shared his views about his two-year stay in Washington, the state of Pakistan-US relations, the country's economic policies, domestic and foreign investments, and the role of private entrepreneurs.

Referring to Pakistan's economic performance, he said: "It is very good to see your testimony to the fact that ... you are agreed that the economic picture (emerging in Pakistan) is a good (one)."

Over the past five year, he said: "There has been a genuine economic transformation, which is comprehensive, institutional and deep-rooted in Pakistan, and which has brought into being a platform on which increased growth rates have now become possible."

"These growth rates need to be sustainable in order to bring about the poverty alleviation that is critically important to get the mass support for the reform programme over a long period of time."

The economic turnaround, he said, had been a major achievement of the government of President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz, "and we are all anticipating great things from Mr Shaukat Aziz in the future, too, he would be expanding his canvas as soon as he assumes a higher office, as is generally anticipated."

He said that the "obstacles and challenges that we confront are largely of a non-economic nature - the law and order situation, the external environment - and we have made a very considerable progress in that also."

Mr Qazi referred to Pakistan-India dialogue process, and said: "We are hopefully going to have a sustained long-term engagement of dialogue process with India in which we are going to address those kinds of issues which have defied not just solution but have defied constructive, meaningful exchange and discussion over the past fifty years."

On the problem of Kashmir, he said: "We could not even begin a decent dialogue, because our approach was mutually exclusive," and referred to "the manner in which we saw these problems."

Of Kashmir problem, he said "We are tackling this in a manner that hasn't been done before, and, that augurs well."

Similarly, on the western front, an institutional cooperation with the government of Afghanistan was being developed.

He referred to operation underway in tribal areas- which, he said, over a long run is absolutely essential to bring about a kind of stability and environment which will be conducive to foreign investment and sustained high growth rates- leading to increased employment opportunities and poverty reduction.

"These are integrated matters."

Therefore, he stated "foreign policy actually, ultimately, has to be at service of domestic policy, which, in large part, is socio-economic policy."-APP