PAKISTANI FOREIGN MINISTER SPEAKS AT ECONOMIC FORUM

(25 May 2012) Pakistan's foreign minister on Friday said officials were in "intensive negotiations" with the United States in efforts to resolve a dispute regarding a major NATO supply route to Afghanistan.
Pakistan closed its Afghan border to NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) supplies in November in retaliation for American airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
The route remains closed, but speaking in Tokyo on Friday Hina Rabbani Khar said it was "in Pakistan's interest" to end the blockade.
"We are keen to go back on track with the United States, with the rest of the world," Khar said, speaking at an economic forum in the Japanese capital.
Pakistan's parliament has demanded that Washington apologise for the border incident and halt attacks by drone aircraft against militants in northwest Pakistan.
Khar called for recognition for losses suffered by Pakistan over the years, having been allies with the United States amid conflict in the region.
"We hope that the efforts that we have made so far are well recognised," the foreign minister said.
Rifts between the United States and Pakistan continue on other fronts, after a Pakistani doctor who helped the United States track down Osama bin Laden was sentenced to 33 years in prison for high treason.
On Thursday, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton denounced the conviction and sentencing of doctor Shakil Afridi, saying there was no basis for holding Afridi.
Speaking after the forum, Khar backed the sentence.
"The law of the country is what prevailed, and we must show respect for the law of the country."
The US Senate Appropriations Committee has cut aid to Islamabad by 33 (m) million US dollars, one (m) million US dollars for every year of the physician's 33-year sentence.


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