The United States and Pakistan agreed Tuesday to launch negotiations for a bilateral investment treaty that could eventually broaden economic relations between the two countries. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and Pakistani Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan met in Washington and announced the start of the talks. A newly drafted model bilateral investment treaty (BIT) between the two allies in the war on terrorism is substantively similar to the investment chapters of free trade agreements that the United States has set up over the past two years, Zoellick's office said. "A BIT based on the high standards contained in our model text can play an important role in strengthening Pakistan's economy so as to create new opportunities for exporters and investors in both economies and assist in meeting the economic conditions to counter terrorism," Zoellick said. U.S. goods exported to Pakistan totaled 843 million dollars in 2003 while U.S. goods imported from Pakistan were 2.5 billion dollars last year. --SP 2256 Local Time 1956 GMT
