Pakistan PM Imran Khan to visit US next month to meet President Trump

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is scheduled to visit the US on a maiden trip on July 20 during which he would face-to-face talks with US President Donald Trump, according to a media report. Khan, would have first face-to-face talks with US President Donald Trump, the Express Tribune reported.

The prime minister would begin his five-day trip from July 20, official sources confirmed to the paper on Friday. The trip, originally planned in June, was postponed because of the prime minister's prior domestic engagements, especially due to federal budget 2019.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Thursday told reporters that a meeting between Prime Minister Khan and Trump was expected soon. He, however, did not share the date of the visit. Qureshi said the prime minister would be visiting Washington on the invitation of President Trump, who wanted to discuss important regional issues.

This would be the first high-level engagement between the two countries under the Trump administration's tenure and comes at a time when talks between the US and Afghan Taliban are thought to have entered the decisive phase.

Relations between Pakistan and the US have remained tense during Trump's tenure. The US president has publically said that Pakistan has given us "nothing but lies and deceit" and also suspended security and other assistance for backing terror groups.

The US has repeatedly asked Pakistan to end its support to the militant organisations operating from within its territory against India and Afghanistan. Efforts for arranging the Imran-Trump meeting have been going on for months, the report said.

Some officials linked the two leaders' summit with the possible positive outcome of the ongoing efforts seeking a peace deal in Afghanistan. Though the bilateral ties have been hit, the US president has expressed his desire to work with the Imran-led government.