Islamabad (TDI): Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Petroleum, Ali Pervaiz Malik, had a meeting with the Charge d’Affaires of the United States to Pakistan, Natalie A. Baker, at the Ministry of Petroleum.
The meeting focused on bilateral economic cooperation, with particular emphasis on oil, gas, and minerals. This engagement takes forward what has recently been agreed upon between the two countries in the trade deal.
The deal, which came to be after extensive discussions between trade officials and economic experts of both countries, prioritizes exploration of Pakistan’s oil reserves by the US, in addition to rare earth minerals and hydrocarbons.
It is noteworthy that Trump administration has put critical minerals and hydrocarbons above everything else when it comes to the US’s foreign economic relations.
Charge d’Affaires Baker highlighted the opportunities for American investment in Pakistan’s energy landscape.
“There is a strong and growing interest from US companies in Pakistan’s Oil, Gas, and Minerals sector, in line with the vision of President Trump,” she said.
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“The United States is committed to work with Pakistan. The US Embassy will actively facilitate direct linkages between American companies and their Pakistani counterparts in the Exploration & Production (E&P) sector to unlock this potential,” Baker added.
Federal Minister Malik welcomed the keen interest of the US investors and detailed the upcoming opportunities.
“The Government of Pakistan is undertaking bidding round for both offshore and onshore oil and gas exploration blocks, which presents a tremendous opportunity for international partners,” he said.
“Pakistan possesses huge untapped potential especially shale oil & gas, and converting these indigenous resources into tangible reserves is a target of our government,” the Minister added.
Both dignitaries commended the success of the recent “Direct Line” webinar, an initiative organized by the Embassy to connect US companies with opportunities in Pakistan’s mineral sector, citing it as a model for future engagement in Oil and Gas sectors.
Just this month, the US Embassy facilitated the counterterrorism dialogue which was hosted in Islamabad. All these developments add up to the warming up of business, economic , and security cooperation between the two countries.
Sohail Majeed
Sohail Majeed is a Special Correspondent at The Diplomatic Insight. He has twelve plus years of experience in journalism & reporting. He covers International Affairs, Diplomacy, UN, Sports, Climate Change, Economy, Technology, and Health.
