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Past Event

A Brookings Leadership Forum with Khurshid M. Kasuri, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan

The U.S.-Pakistan Relationship: Challenges and Opportunities

Pakistan, South Asia, Asia

Event Summary

The Honorable Khurshid M. Kasuri, Pakistan's foreign minister since November 2002, will speak on the current state of U.S.-Pakistan relations. He will touch upon such current concerns as the protracted dialogue with India over Kashmir and other issues; the recent announcement of the sale of F-16s to Pakistan; and the status of U.S.-Pakistan cooperation on the fight against terrorism, especially in Afghanistan and Pakistan itself. Brookings President Strobe Talbott will provide introductory remarks.

Event Information

When

Thursday, June 09, 2005
11:15 AM to 12:15 PM

Where

Falk Auditorium
The Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC
Map

Contact: Office of Communications

E-mail: communications@brookings.edu?Subject=Pakistani Foreign Minister Event

Phone: 202.797.6105

Mr. Kasuri has had a long and distinguished career in Pakistani politics. He was first elected to Pakistan's National Assembly in 1977 and has served on a number of parliamentary committees. He has been Pakistan's special envoy to a number of countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, and Germany, and has been active in numerous track-two dialogues with Indian counterparts.

A question and answer session will follow Minister Kasuri's remarks.

The Leadership Forum provides high-level government officials from around the world the opportunity to address members of the Washington policy community and to share their insights and perspectives on world events as well as on issues of particular concern to their countries.

Transcript

KHURSHID M. KASURI: Ladies and gentlemen, to promote peace and understanding between Islam and the West, and to address the challenges that we confront both within Pakistan and around us, President Pervez Musharraf has propounded a vision of what has properly become to be known as enlightened moderation.

This envisages a two-pronged strategy. The first is for the Muslim world to shun militancy and extremism and adopt the path of socio-economic uplift and human resource development. The second is for the West to help resolve longstanding political disputes justly and to assist in the socio-economic development of the deprived Muslim world. We are happy to see that the concept has found an increasing number of takers. The U.S. supports it. The OIC, or Organization of Islamic Conferences, endorsed it. If there are more questions, I would go into greater details.

Based on this vision, we want to create a modern, tolerant, democratic Islamic country. Moderation will bring society together, build a new culture of cooperation and economic development. As the second largest Muslim country with a moderate outlook, and located in a geopolitically important region, Pakistan is well poised to play its role. It can also act as a bridge between Islam and the West.

This approach of moderation and accommodation guides on to the approach to domestic political reform. Elections to local bodies will be held this year. The general elections are set for 2007. Thus, within two years, we would be well ahead on the path to sustainable democracy.

Read the full transcript (PDF#&151;82kb)

Participants

Introduction

Strobe Talbott

President, The Brookings Institution

Speaker

Hon. Khurshid M. Kasuri

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Islamic Republic of Pakistan

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