Awfully hard as President, I mean he's been in that office now for 24 hours, but he also has another job and we want to recognize again the wonderful support of the United Central Bank where he is the Chief Lending Officer, not an easy job, and an executive vice president. Please welcome Mohammed Younus. Thank you, Jim. Is the volume of my voice okay, can everybody hear? Good evening ladies and gentleman. I'm very honored and it is my utmost pleasure to introduce our chief guest and keynote speaker for this evening. He is a leader who has all the curiosity for learning, a boundless energy to put the learning into practice, and a talent to adapt to new behaviors very quickly. He is one of those blessed leaders who double-up dances through a never ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience. He was born in 1941 and graduated from the Pakistan Military Academy in 1961. He has served in various commands of staff, an instructional appointments during his army career. He attended a mid-career armor course in the USA in 1973 and a basic airborne course from Fort Benning in 1982. He served as Pakistan defense and military attache in Washington D.C. From 1977 to 1982. As military secretary to the Pakistan, to the President of Pakistan from 1983 to 1986, and as Chairman and Chief Executive of Pakistan Ordinance Factories Board from 1992 to 1998. After retiring from the army he was actively involved in working towards peace efforts between India and Pakistan as a member of a dedicated group of Pakistanis and Indians, and is a part of the process sponsored by the United Nations. He worked with former senior officials from United States, Russia, and Iran to find a peaceful settlement to the Argon Crisis. He has served for three years in the governing council of International Institute of Strategic Studies in London, from 2001 to 2004. He is the author of several books and studies, including India and Pakistan: the Cost of Conflict, and the Benefits of Peace, published by John Hopkins University; Pakistan's Security Imperatives Year 2000 and Beyond: Enhancing Security Through a Cooperative Border Monitoring Experiment; A Proposal for India and Pakistan; and Pakistan's Strategic Thinking in the Role of Nuclear Weapons. He's married and has three children. The Pakistani community here in the US was most proud of him when he presented his credentials to the President George Bush on 8th of June this year. Ladies and Gentlemen, please rise and join me in a Texas-size welcome for His Excellency, Mahmud Ali Durrani, the Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States of America. Younus, you have done me great disservice. From the pedestal you have put me, I have nowhere to go except to fall. Mr. Baluch council general, Pat Patterson, who was sitting next to Mr. Younus, and members of the World Affairs Council, greetings and it is an honor and a privilege for me to be here in Dallas today, a state and a town and a city I admire greatly but I did not expect these temperatures. I was hoping to come to balmy temperatures. But such is life. I'm going to speak a little bit about Pakistan, US relation. I have kept my speech rather short with the purpose that I think you will have a more useful session in an interactive question-answers. Pakistan US relations offer an instructive study in interstate relations. Pakistan has been a steadfast ally of the US on almost all major issues confronting the US after the Second World War. That is, during the Cold War, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and now the global war against terror. Pakistan was also the conduit through which President Nixon visited China in 1972 to begin a new chapter of relations between the two countries. At one point, Pakistan came to be called "the most allied of allies." And that's quite an accomplishment in the presence of countries like the United Kingdom and Israel. Yet Pakistan also has the dubious distinction of being the most sanctioned ally from time to time. Going back into history, in the mid fifties, Pakistan became a member of the US led SEATO and CENTO security arrangements, essentially designed for the containment of the Soviet Union. While NATO contained the Soviet Union from the west, CENTO and SEATO contained it from south and east. From the mid fifties to the mid sixties, our relationship was outstanding. It was a model of a relationship between any two countries and it was during the mid fifties and the mid sixties that United States was the most popular country in Pakistan. I call that the Golden Era period of our relationship. Unfortunately, relations began to cool off between the two countries during the second half of the sixties. We became the forgotten ally, and in the seventies, we had a number of sanctions imposed on us for a variety of reasons and nuclear happens to be one of them. In the closing days of 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, and the US once again badly needed Pakistan. Pakistan willingly obliged. Thus began another decade of close relationship between our two countries. The US enclosed collaboration with Pakistan, supported, funded and trained what at that time we called Mujahideen, people, Mujahids, from seminaries from Afghanistan, from Pakistan, and some other nationalities. This cooperation led to the defeat of the Soviets in Afghanistan, and their withdrawal from Afghanistan and eventually their collapse. So Afghanistan, in a way, was that last straw which broke the camel's back. Unfortunately, the US, after this victory in Afghanistan, allowed itself to be diverted elsewhere. Such are the problems of a superpower, leaving Pakistan to contend with the wreckage of the Jihad in Afghanistan. What did we get out of it? We got a lot of guns, we got a lot of Mujahideen, and who therein lay the seeds of the present Taliban. Both growing out of seminaries. The US, believing that it no longer needed Pakistan, chose to invoke dormant legislation such as the Simentan and the rest of the amendments, and strapped military sales to Pakistan, citing concerns, again, over our much-maligned nuclear program. I'm sure I'll get questions on that. The slight of the relationship continued through the nineties. This was a time of the rule of the warlords in Afghanistan after the Soviets reduced to recollect. Followed by rule of the Taliban and the birth of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. As this was not enough, our very good neighbors, India, conducted nuclear tests, in May 98, followed by some tough words, leaving very little choice for Pakistan except to do a tit for tat, which we did. This again resulted in more sanctions and further downslide of the US Pakistan relationship. As luck would have it, once again, it was Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11 that pulled back the relationship of the Terror Act to the present day, where Pakistan is once again an important ally and a front-line state in the war to fight global terrorism. Ladies and gentleman, I strongly believe that this roller coaster of the past has to stop. One reason for this yo-yo syndrome was the relationship between Pakistan and the United States was founded on a very narrow base of security considerations and security considerations alone. If we are to rid the relationship of the past isolations, we must broaden it and give it depth. We have to develop a more sustained relationship, capable of weathering the irritants of the day. Fortunately, the leadership of both our countries is now making an earnest effort to lend substance and sustainability to the relationship. In brief, broadening the base of our relationship. Today, Pakistan is playing a pivotal role in the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban and terrorists. If the International Coalition against terrorism is a team, Pakistan is the player with the most touchdowns to its credit. Pakistan has arrested some of the most senior and wanted Al Qaeda leaders, and rooted out Taliban strongholds from Pakistan's tribal areas. While doing this, Pakistan has also taken some of the heaviest hits in the world against terrorism. We have lost more than 700 soldiers in operations against the Taliban, since 03, and twice as many soldiers have been wounded in this war. Only last month, 43 of our army recruits were martyred in a suicide bombing. Pakistan played a crucial role in uncovering the plot to blow up airlines flying to the United States with liquid bombs. I think today the cooperation between the US and Pakistani intelligence agencies and armed forces is very good. Despite sniping and the usual expressions in the US media about Pakistan's commitment to the global war against terrorism, believe me, we are resolute in our resolve to eradicate the menace of terrorism from our region. Today, this is my biggest challenge as an ambassador of Pakistan to the United States, to convince people here that we are firm in our resolve, we are not in bed with the Taliban. We don't like them. Our president has been hit three times. We are suffering casualties. Our recruits have been killed. We must be really stupid or downright mad to support them. We are resolute in trying to finish this menace from our region. President Bush was in Pakistan in March this year. The two countries announced a long term partnership, and initiated a strategic dialogue process to lend sustainability to the relationship. Pakistan and the US are today engaged in the cooperative effort in the fields of economics, trade, science and technology, energy and education. Energy is an area where I know Texas can be a partner with us. Our security relations continue to be the centerpiece, and within that is our joined commitment to defeating global terrorism. In case you don't know, terrorism is a bigger threat to Pakistan than it is to the US. This is without a doubt. Since the visit of President Bush to Pakistan, a number of delegations from the US have gone to Pakistan, and a number of delegations from Pakistan have visited the United States to add substance to the relationship. We are moving fairly briskly in the areas of science and technology, energy and education. The education minister of Pakistan was here last week. And he held a day of intense discussions with his counterpart, that is, Secretary Spellings. The two agreed to cooperate in a number of areas. It is my belief that education offers great opportunity to bring the people of Pakistan and US together. Education also offers a great opportunity and a great catalyst of getting rid of extremism in Pakistan. A positive of the new US Pakistan relationship is the presence of a mechanism to conduct a periodic review of the relationship at very senior levels. The mechanism is called the Strategic Dialogue, to be held alternately in Pakistan and the US. The first Dialogue was held in the United States. We are now preparing for the second Dialogue between your under-secretary of state, Mr. Nicholas Burns, and our Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Riaz Mohammad Khan. Hopefully, it will be held in February of next year. That will be just two months from now. This dialogue reviews the full spectrum of the relationship with the purpose of providing impetus to the relationship. I think this is a very good way to help the relationship forward. Now, a little focus on the area of business and trade. Pakistan and the US bi-lateral investment treaty. A lot of hard work has gone into bringing the position of the two countries close. I finally see a silver lining: in my mind, the signing of the BIT is not an end product in itself, but it will certainly be an important stepping stone towards the final goal of reaching a free-trade agreement. From a Pakistani perspective, it would be better if the BIT is signed as a component of the FDA. So we are working in that direction. Ladies and gentlemen, Pakistan has achieved economic recovery and sustainable growth as a result of financial discipline, and a consistent policy on liberalization, privatization, de-regulating of the economy. 85% of our banks are now de-regulated in the private sector from almost 60, 70%, which were initially with the government. And at the time they were 100% with the government. Our economy, ladies and gentlemen, is now on a high growth trajectory. All natural economic indicators are positive. After a GDP growth rate of over 7% in the fiscal years 2004, 2005, where the economy grew by about 6.5%, and this year we are expecting a growth rate of 7% of GDP, which is only second to China. All sectors of our economy are showing progress, including agriculture, manufacturing, and the service sector. A growing middle class has increased consumption of goods, including automobiles and the area of telecoms. To attract investment, Pakistan has fully liberalized its incentive framework. Today, Pakistan has the most liberal incentive climate in the world region, and I don't say this, this is acknowledged by economists globally and some of the leading magazines have mentioned that. There is no limit on foreign exchange participation, free admittance of foreign exchange, including profit, technical fees, royalty and capital. The government is also trying to improve governance, especially of those organizations that interact closely with business. Business opportunity has never been brighter in Pakistan as it is today. Pakistan, ladies and gentlemen, is committed to continue economic reforms. This has been, as I said, recognized by international agencies that ensures that Pakistan's ranking has improved, the World Bank has said this and it's also been covered by the London Economist. For Pakistan, economic development is critical for its national security. We believe that international trade and investment relations will sustain our high growth rate and are therefore key components of Pakistan's developmental strategy. We also consider international economic relations necessary to economically develop, and to sustain our high growth rate, which again, goes and helps in fighting extremism and terrorism. There are enormous opportunities for economic cooperation between our two countries. As mentioned earlier, our economy is booming, Pakistan is importing large quantities of capital goods to expand and strengthen our growing industrial base. There are tremendous investment opportunities in various sectors. In case you don't know, more than 600 foreign companies are doing business in Pakistan today, and posting an impressive profit, and some of these are in the petrol-chemical field, particularly companies like Shell, Mobile-Exxon, although it has a small footprint British Petroleum and a lot of other companies which are doing prospecting in Pakistan. Pakistan is acknowledged to be the most liberalized economy in South Asia today. The US, I think, needs to re-discover Pakistan. The visit of President Musharraf this year to the US, and his meeting with President Bush, has further added impetus and breadth to relations between our two countries. Two conclusions I will say. I see a new phase of Pakistan US relations. Rather than focus on shortened and narrow interests, the relationship is now deepening based on long term common interests and a shared vision for the future of this world. Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for your attention, and I'll be happy to...
