PM Khan arrives in Washington for three-day official visit

WASHINGTON: Prime Minister Imran Khan arrived in Washington on Saturday for his official ‘working three-day visit’ to the United States.

According to details, the prime minister travelled to the capital of the United States via a commercial Qatar Airways flight. The prime minister travelled via the commercial flight in a bid to save taxpayer’s money.

According to Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan, the prime ministers trip will cost the national exchequer a total of $60,000. This, the government claims, is a much smaller amount compared to the visit of the previous prime ministers.

As part of his austerity move, the prime minister will be staying at the ambassador’s house in the diplomatic enclave. Prime Minister Khan will be joined by DG ISI and the chief of army staff in his meetings with the senior civil and military leadership of the United States.

This is the first time in Pakistan’s history that two top military generals will be accompanying the prime minister to his meeting at the White House.

Prime Minister Khan will also meet the United States President Donald J Trump. Defence Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan, the new chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Mark Milley and other senior officials will meet army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa during his visit to the Pentagon.

Prime Minister Khan is expected to meet IMF chief David Lipton on Sunday and then a similar meeting with the president of the World Bank is expected to follow. Prime Minister Khan will then attend an event at Washington’s Community One area.
An organiser who spoke to Dawn said that as many as 15,000-20,000 people are expected to attend.

Prime Minister Khan will meet President Trump, who will give a tour of the White House to the premier. This, according to Foreign Minister Qureshi, will give the two men time to ‘mingle and chat’.