US envoy says N-cooperation with Pak not possible

Lahore, Sept 30 : It was not possible for the US to extend any cooperation to Pakistan in nuclear energy sector as the issue "involved a lot of legislation", said US Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W. Patterson here last evening.

She said that the US did not want to destabilise Pakistan, rather it was making efforts to make the country a stable and economically viable state.

Addressing members of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry here, she said that the US wanted long-term, broad-based relations with Pakistan, and that Washington would soon announce a 100 million dollars package for Pakistan's agriculture sector.

The ambassador emphasised on the fact that the US would continue and increase bilateral trade and investment in Pakistan.

She said that despite some economic difficulties, the volume of trade between the two countries had been increasing and the fact remained that the US was the largest single investor and donor of the country. She said as many as 90 new US development projects in social sector were in the pipeline that would get a final shape as soon as the situation in Pakistan took a positive turn.

She said that until the youngsters in the troubled areas, particularly in the tribal areas, got jobs there were little chances of improvement in the situation there. Expressing optimism about the Pak-US trade relations, she said Pakistan had a huge potential in energy and IT sectors.

ANI